Doppelgänger
by djinni14
Summary: Do you know what a Doppelgänger is? Did you know that Kate Beckett and Richard Castle have one? Did you also know that their lives depend on having one? Just are these Doppelgängers going to be just what these two need? Read and find out. M rated chapters are clearly marked.- NOW COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Doppelgänger 1**

She was doing her best to be stealthy. Snohbal had observed the area for weeks and made mental notes of everything. She had decided that today was the day. Everything and everyone was right where she expected them to be.

Snohbal had just a few differences from those of her kind. Her long hair was more brown that bordered on being red rather than the typical black. Plus her legs were a lot longer than was normal. Other than these two traits she was indistinguishable from others like her.

She was as equally beautiful as the others. It didn't hurt that she was barely dressed. She wore black thigh-high boots that only added to her height. Her top was all one piece but it barely covered her breasts. Mostly just her nipples. Combine that with a large amount of exposed skin and she was seductive just to look at.

As was typical, she had large bat-like wings on her back. So large in fact that they dragged along the ground a touch when she walked. They were a deep burgundy red in color and were edged with black on the upper side.

In the mortal world she was a walking wet dream, provided you could overlook her wings. Her skin was deeply tanned and smooth as silk.

She smiled broadly, spread her wings, and jumped. The sound of them flapping was something she wanted to avoid so she had chosen her jump-off point with great care. All she had to do was glide.

Snohbal was still smiling as she glided in for her landing. From here she had to be fast and quiet as possible. Most of the guards were small and weak. While she hated physical combat she did have very sharp claws which was why she was here. There was something here that she was hoping would prevent her from having to use her claws.

It was almost legendary, yet the owner was so sure of himself that he didn't think anyone would dare steal it from him. Snohbal, however, had other plans. She saw it as having her name written all over it.

She landed and quickly slipped just inside the opening where she watched while the guard walked past her, never even looking in her direction. The second he was out of view she swiftly went up the stairs. Three flights up brought her into a grand hallway.

It was easily 60 feet wide with columns on one side and an invisible barrier between each column. The view looked out onto the large expanse of land. The opposite wall was filled with four sets of large, wooden, double doors. These doors were nothing like the ordinary doors people of lower order – like her – used. They were tall, thick, and bound with a nearly indestructible metal. She had never had the pleasure of trying to open them herself. But seeing who did open them left her with the idea that they were heavy.

Fortunately she didn't have to open them since what she was after was farther on at the end of the hallway and then up another set of stairs. It was there that things would get complicated.

Snohbal spread her wings and did her best to just glide down the massive hallway. She feared that if she ran the sound of her boots hitting the stone floor would alert the guards. Besides she had to be fast.

She had just cleared the far archway when one of those large heavy doors opened and out walked one of the guards that were on this level. He was one of the ones she wanted to avoid at all cost.

He looked like an overly muscled giant frog that walked on two legs. His hands were massive and his claws were much larger and curved than hers. It was his large face and his mouth that was filled with teeth that scared her more. His kind were known to be incredibly strong and yet equally incredibly stupid. Snohbal thought that if she talked fast enough she could talk herself out of trouble. If she didn't he could rip her open in seconds.

She didn't wait for him and moved on tiptoe over to the next set of stairs. Behind her she could hear the door close followed by the guard opening another door. So far everything was going just as she'd planned.

The top of the stairs opened into yet another hallway. This one was far narrower and much more private. This level held the private rooms for the people that lived here.

The master of the house was gone since she had seen him leave with his mate. He was a person that she wouldn't last a heartbeat against. He was so far above her status that it wasn't even funny. What he would do to her if she was caught would be her worst nightmare. It didn't help that he was viciously evil in the extreme.

It was well known that he loved seeing anything living suffer. He himself rarely did anything; he just watched. He was big, he was fat, and he was ugly. Snohbal guessed that he weighed in at 600 pounds easily. His skin was dark orange; his wings were more the color of parchment. He had two large horns, one on each side of his head where she had ears.

He always had a skeletal head hanging from a belt around his fat middle. It was the weapon that he wielded that gave him most of his authority and power, though. It was a rod that was easily four feet long with the skull of an unknown creature on one end. Its green glowing eyes were what terrified her the most. She had witnessed him using it and between his massive strength and the rays that shot out of those eyes, he was someone to be avoided if at all possible. It didn't help that he had a vile temper. If something didn't go his way, hundreds suffered to satisfy his anger. Worse, they didn't just ultimately die, they were _made_ to suffer.

Snohbal needed the door on the far end but had to wait. "Come on, come on." If he was late it would upset her delicately timed plan. She had little room for things to go wrong.

Finally out one of the doors came what she knew would appear based on her observations.

This was another one of those that she didn't want to meet in physical combat. It wasn't his physical strength that worried her, though that was a concern. Though that was a concern. No, this one was different.

He was horribly thin and was solid black from head to… Well, he had no toes since he had no feet. He literally floated everywhere he went. His arms were overly long and almost dragged on the floor. His hands were huge with fingers that ended in nails that were easily 6 inches long.

His black wings were smaller than hers. They were tattered as though he'd been in countless fights and had had them sliced by a knife or simply been bitten and ripped off. She could believe it since his mouth was overly large and filled with long pointed teeth. That and he had two long horns jutting out off the upper back of his head. Snohbal was glad to not have horns. She feared that they would affect her beauty, the beauty with which she wanted to be associated.

Others of her kind were far more willing to be whores than she was. Some would scheme and use their bodies to get things. Yes, she wanted those things just as much if not more, but she wasn't willing to sell herself like others. Plus while they liked horns, she hated them.

Snohbal waited and watched; he spread his wings and went out on patrol. Like everyone else in her world, this being was vicious and incredibly evil. She had watched one like him literally rip a person's soul out of his body. A living husk was left behind that was then fed to the lower life forms that desired meat. What happened to those souls she had no idea and had no great need to find out. Her imagination was good enough.

It wasn't until he had risen and gone over the building that she ran on tiptoe across the stone walkway. Upon reaching the door she stopped to listen. It was this room that she knew little about since she had never been in it. Nor had she been able to get any information on what was inside.

It was possible that he had left one of her kind behind after raping her. Or it was possible that he had a pet. It was also possible that he had someone or something guarding the room.

This was where she would have to take her chances. Snohbal crept through the door open and peered inside. It was well lit by brazers that had fire in them that many areas of her land had, a fire that never went out.

She only had time to peek inside. This was her only escape, so it was now or perhaps never. She slid inside and closed the door.

The room was expansive and while it wasn't totally to her taste, it was definitely soft and comfortable. It had things that only someone of his rank and power could possibly ever have.

As much as she wanted a lot of what was in here she was after only the one item. She moved about the room trying to find it.

There was a sitting room area, a place that looked like a library that caught her interest. Books were something that were extremely rare in her world. Snohbal couldn't resist; she pulled the fanny pack off of her waist and opened it. She ran her fingers over several spines till she reached a book that looked like it had never been removed. This book was removed and stuffed into her pack.

She continued running her fingers over the spines as fast as she could. She had decided that books that looked like they were used often were the books she didn't want. She was taking a gamble that these books would be more valuable. If they were not read often that might mean something good.

She found only four books before she worried that she was using up precious time. Time she might need to find what she came here for. With great reluctance she left the books and moved over to the sleeping area.

The bed was massive, filled with soft items. The feel of the sheets made her moan. It made her wish her pack had space. It was true that the inside was larger than the outside, but it was one of the few items that she had. She had to be picky about what went inside. It might be bigger on the inside than the outside, but it wasn't that big on the inside.

She quickly searched the bed and moved pillows around, running her hands over everything. She was ready to start cursing since there were no drawers anywhere. Everything was out in the open. All of the shelves, no matter where located, were all open.

She still had a pillow in her hand when something large and shiny got her attention. It wasn't what she came for, but it was gorgeous.

She took it off the shelf. She'd never seen a gem like it. It was blue-white and seemed to glow from the inside. It was encased inside a small globe and had pale ice blue tendrils leading from the gem in the center to the edge of the globe. It didn't hurt that the gem was as big as her fist. She wasted no time in stuffing it into her pack.

She looked around. It had to be here, it just had to. _"Maybe_ _,_ _"_ she thought and stepped over to a wall that was filled with large weapons. There were double bladed battle-axes, a massive sword that looked like it might weighed tons. She scanned the wall till she saw it. Then she snatched it off the wall.

The hilt was solid gold and yet it weighed almost nothing. The blade looked to be one huge solid ruby. It was easily 10 inches long with about half of that being the blade. There was a skull on the hilt where it joined with the blade and a rounded ruby on the end of the hilt. She really wanted to study it more closely but she needed to get out of there before she stayed too long if she hadn't already.

In response to her fear a side door seemed to open on its own and in walked a tiger who had clearly nudged the door open. He was ice blue with stripes of solid white. He growled menacingly the moment he saw Snohbal. She ran for the door with the tiger hot on her tail. She yanked the door open and jumped outside. Then she took two steps, jumped over the side, and spread her wings.

The tiger had no choice but to stop. Furious, he roared at her, his fur crackling with lightening. Snohbal dived for the ground and flapped her wings as hard as she could while she powered just inches above the ground and flew off into the distance.

Her heart was still pounding an hour later as she glided to her own little hiding place.

She had been spotted and knew that the land would be turned upside down looking for whoever it was. Eventually even her little hiding place would be found. She hurriedly gathered up everything she owned. Her new books stayed in her pack while she stuffed everything else she would need into a larger bag that was also bigger on the inside than the outside. She stowed her things as quickly as she could, not caring how it was packed.

Snohbal belted her red sash, secured her new dagger in place, and left her home. She knew where she wanted to go and knew it was going to take time to reach it.

She flew high and hard. That she could be seen, caught and tortured for years before she died made her heart pound harder. Even just a chance encounter with a stronger person of her world scared her. This was her one shot. If she failed her life was over. Her fears were generating tears that she wiped away from time to time.

Her destination was far off in the distance. It was one of the more secret locations that very few even knew about, let alone knew where it was located. She had come across it by sheer happenstance, observing people going in and coming out. Almost no one used it over the months that she had watched it. It was watching people not of her kind exit from the door that convinced her just what it was.

She had seen real humans, slim humans that were solid black with long silver hair. Even these short people that looked to be covered in hair, yet each carried either a massive hammer or an equally large axe. One was double-bladed. All of them reeked of untrustworthiness. She feared they were more likely to rape her and abuse her.

She was hoping that this door would take her to a new land. Someplace a lot safer. A new home where she could be herself.

She knew from her time observing it that there were no guards and that very few people ever used it no matter if they were coming or going. So she wasn't afraid to simply fly right up to it.

She paused and looked around. This had been home even if she didn't like it. Her hope was that she would never be here again. Yet again she knew she had to be quick. She had heard that others of her kind and still others could be summoned in a moment's notice. One second they were there and the next they were gone. Only a rare few were ever heard from again.

Snohbal opened the door and stepped inside. What she found was not what she was expecting. She found herself on a landing that was maybe 30 by 30 feet square. There was a wood staircase that went up and a metal one that went down. She walked over to the edge that didn't have a railing. It was here that her mouth dropped open; she looked up and then down in awe.

She couldn't see the far walls, mostly because the farther out she looked the thicker the mist got. She could just make out that the staircase went up to another landing while the one down did the same. The one down looked larger while the one up looked tiny. The one up looked just wide enough for one person. Other than that the place was unremarkable. There were no paintings, no carvings, no dead or even live bodies. No one and nothing was moving.

She had to make a choice – up or down – since going back through the door was out of the question. She wasn't going back. Down looked easier and since the stairs were made of metal it looked safer. Snohbal made her decision. "Up it is."

She was still climbing up the stairs. She was on her 8th landing and was finding that the stair lengths varied. The first one had been relatively short. The one she was on now was proving to be incredibly long. What was worse was that it was made of rope and planks. It looked horribly unstable.

Another thing she noticed was that on each and every landing there was a door. Even the doors had varied in look and material. Wood, metal, or both. One looked a lot like the thick, heavily-bound door back at the mansion from where she had stolen her items. Another looked like a fragile-looking wooden door. She thought if she blew on it, it would fracture and be destroyed.

Nothing made sense. She was still climbing when she started to hear noise. When she got closer she could tell they were voices. Now her fears of who or what she would meet started getting to her.

She hadn't yet reached the landing but could see over the last step and out onto the landing. It was filled with people and small shacks. The place bustled with activity.

She slowly and tentatively stepped up onto the landing. What she saw boggled her mind. There were humans, short people with long hair. Even long hair growing from their faces. Some of this hair was decorated; beads and other things had been added.

Most everyone had weapons. However, it was one person that she had eyes for. He was encased in metal, or so it looked. He had obviously spotted her and was stomping his way straight for her. As he did he drew out a large sword that actually started to glow ice blue.

A thin woman was dressed in metal and clothes and had a weapon of her own, though it was still at her side. "Rodney, **NO!** You know the rules of this place. You know the consequences of breaking those rules." She laid a hand on his upper arm, the arm that didn't have the sword in it.

To Snohbal's great relief he actually did stop. She couldn't see his face since he was wearing a helmet that only had slits in it. How he breathed in that thing escaped her. She heard him growl and then he put his sword away. He turned in place and stomped back the way he'd come. It was then that she noticed that the noise picked up again and people were turning away from her.

She watched as the woman walked up close to her. "You will forgive my friend. He has a strong hatred for your kind. It's nothing personal. My name is Alasse."

"Snohbal," she replied. "What are you?" She had never seen anything like her.

"You must be new here. I'm a high elf. My religious friend, Rodney, is human. We are traveling with another human and a friend of mine." Snohbal looked beyond her where she saw Rodney standing with three other people, one of whom looked much like Alasse.

"May I ask which door you came out of?" Alasse queried.

"Nine landings down. This staircase is very long," Snohbal answered. Alasse nodded.

"You've not been here before have you?" She could see that Snohbal was carrying very little and was obviously alone. Seeing Snowball shake her head told her what she needed to know.

"I'll do you a favor though I don't know why. Maybe I just sense something about you. This place is called _The Endless Stair_. Some call it the _Stair of Freedom._ One of the Gods spent time and energy building it.

Not every landing has a door and each door does not always lead to a different plane of existence. This area is one of only a few way stations for lack of a better word. It is filled with little shops where you can buy or sell things. Or get food, get information from either the vendors or people that come here.

There are a few rules and trust me when I say they are enforced with severe consequences. One is you cannot attack anyone. If you initiate combat you will pay a price. Out there is the Astral Sea. It is a place that no one can travel. If you go over the side you will fall forever. Your wings will not help you. Flight in any form is not possible.

These stairs are said to go on forever. There is no end to them. Go up or down until you die of old age and you will never see the end."

"So it is safe?" Snohbal asked. She liked that idea. Alasse shook her head.

"As I said you should not initiate combat. However, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Plus you will run across thieves who will try and steal what you carry; others will run scams. They'll promise you something for a price and then not deliver.

You are free to sleep where you please. Go though any door you find or turn around and come right back in again. I warn you – sleeping runs the risk of being robbed. Theft is not a crime here. May I ask where you are going?" Alasse was curious.

"Somewhere safer. I'm escaping my home," Snohbal told her since she had told her much more than she knew.

"Interesting." Alasse had never heard of such a thing. Snohbal was unique for her kind.

"Go where you wish, just be careful and remember the rules. May your travels be free of trouble." She bowed slightly and turned her back on Snohbal. Then she walked back to her friends.

It told Snohbal a lot of what she needed to know. She looked around at the various shops. It was here that she decided to buy some food. She had some and it would last her days, but it never hurt to have a little more.

She was mildly surprised that proprietor took her coins. He even gave back change in the same type coin. She went across to the far side and started climbing stairs again while she slowly ate what she had purchased.

Five landings later, all of which varied in size, she came across a different type of stairs. These appeared to go in a large wide circle. As she climbed it looked like it was built into the side of whatever the wall was made of. She couldn't see the stairs on the far side thanks to the mist that made up the Astral Sea.

She wasn't very physical and was starting to get tired. "Maybe going up wasn't such a good idea." Her legs were starting to cramp a bit. Step after step going up was taking a toll on her. She had been climbing for some time and had yet to come across another landing.

It felt like forever when she finally came to a landing that was small. She hadn't seen anyone going down and there was no one behind her. Still she took Alasse's warning to heart about sleeping here. This landing like all the others had a door.

She decided that maybe sleeping on the other side of the door would be safer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Doppelgänger 2**

Rick had a lead on someone. Since it was big money he had jumped at it without thinking it through completely. Worse yet, he hadn't told anyone. One reason was that he didn't want to share. It was a failing of his, however, it had yet to raise up and kick him in the ass. He had no reason to think otherwise now.

He'd set the automatic pilot and had retreated to the tiny kitchen area. Basically it was a refrigerator, an induction cooking plate, a small microwave, and a little storage. Opening the fridge, he sighed heavily. He'd been stupid enough to start this trip without checking his supplies. "Sometimes I wonder if it really is screwed on," Rick lamented, meaning his head and the supposed brain inside it.

"I'm not telling her I did this." He didn't want to get an earful and if he did tell her she would berate him something fierce. The universe knew he loved her with all his heart. But his little girl had grown up and she wasn't afraid of him anymore. When she was little he could get away with doing stupid things. Though even then she would glare at him. "Daddy!"

He wondered where she was now. In a way he had been proud that she had followed him into the same line of work. If he was honest with himself she was twice as good as he was. She also spent her money better than he did. He blew his money on things that if he had told her about she would likely reach through the screen, grab hold of his ear, and twist till he was sure she was trying to rip it off. Yet he never seemed to learn. He would see something or hear about something and decide that he just _had_ to have it. Many of those same items were long gone by now.

He huffed out a breath then pulled something out. He put it in a container, placed it inside, and pressed the button. A moment later he took it out and took a whiff. It didn't smell that bad, though he had yet to taste it.

Once he'd finished choking down his meal, he put it into the compactor then ejected the whole mess into space. Next he booted his computer and started doing some research on who he was after. "Samurai? What the hell is a Samurai?" He had hunted down any number of kinds of people or items, but this was new.

"Mathias Arts… That doesn't sound so bad. Using a sword to attack. The old school warriors actually use a metal blade. The newer ones use a vibro blade. Great…" The metal sword didn't sound like trouble. The vibro blade, though, that was likely to be a problem.

He did some research on a vibro blade. "Handheld hilt that could look like anything. A power generator produces the blade that is anywhere from 2 feet to 6 feet long. Couldn't make this easy could you?" He didn't like the sound of that.

Still he would deal with it when the time came. "Antara system." Rick pulled up the charts and started looking the system over.

"It's a moon, so not that large. The sizable station in orbit could be a problem." He knew this system was not part of the empire. It was a stand-alone, meaning they would have their own rules. Getting any help from law enforcement was likely not going to happen.

"Doesn't matter," he told himself. It hadn't stopped him in the past and it wasn't stopping him now. "Likely why he was last spotted here in the first place." It made this location at least a little safe.

Rick reached and pressed a button. "Let me know if there is a problem, Vincent. I'm going to bed," he told the ship's computer.

"Acknowledged," Vincent's mechanical voice answered.

There wasn't anything he could do about it so he lay down to sleep. Besides he knew of no one that could attack another ship while traveling **F** aster **T** han **L** ight. It was thought to be a safe way to travel.

The early FTLs had never been heard from again. No one could explain what had happened to them. The predominant theory was that they never actually exited FTL and were still out there traveling. Or at least until they ran out of fuel and got dumped out in no-man's-land.

FTL was a lot safer today. Still there were occasional problems. Mostly it was because the computer would hiccup and spit out coordinates that would dump them directly in the middle of a sun. Or far too close to a black hole or some other anomaly. Rick didn't worry about what he couldn't control.

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"Hi!" She leaned in and purred into his ear. She most certainly had Rick's attention as his gaze traveled down her body. She was built and looked healthy. He hated to admit it but he was a tit man. The bigger the better. He wanted to bury his face into her breasts and get lost in there somewhere.

He gave a low whistle. "Hello there, gorgeous." Rick did his best to show her his million credit smile. It seemed to have the desired affect as she lifted up and planted a wet one on his lips.

"Your place or mine?" she whispered into his lips.

Rick hardened into velvet-covered steel. "Neither," he replied then ripped her top open exposing the bra she was using to hold her massive chest in place.

"I like the way you think." She pulled him down into a soul-searching kiss. She didn't wait to be invited and simply used her tongue to invade his mouth.

He caught up to her and the tongue war was on. He searched for the clasp and soon the bra was discarded as she went to work on his shirt. It took no time at all until he could feel her bare breasts on his chest. "Lie down, I want you in my mouth," she murmured breathily.

Soon he was on his back while she wrapped her lips around his erection. He had to admit that as much as he wanted to get his hands and lips on those massive breasts, he was enjoying this. "Like this, lover?" she stopped just long enough to ask. Rick could only groan and missed seeing her wicked smile. She went back to licking, sucking, and playing with the slit at the top all the while teasing his balls.

She was really good and it had been so long that he couldn't hold back from climaxing much longer. "So hard, nice and long... You're perfect," she told him after taking his erection out of her mouth.

Suddenly there was nothing but pain. Mind-numbing pain. His eyes snapped open and he looked down. What he saw shocked him speechless. His pain was forgotten.

In one hand she had a blade and in the other she held his penis. "Was it good for you, too?" she cooed.

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Rick screamed and sat up in bed. Immediately his hands flew beneath his sleep pants to check to see if it was still there. Once he could feel and see his flaccid penis he relaxed and closed his eyes. "Thank god."

It had just been a dream. Make that a nightmare. However, the next thing he knew was that there was an alarm blaring in his ear. Opening his eyes he saw red lights everywhere.

"Vincent?" he yelled but got no response. "SHIT!" He ran for the bridge.

Once he was there he saw space, which was not good. That meant he'd exited FTL, which was a bad thing. His screen showed lots of red lights. _"So who attacked me?"_ was his first thought. Just how had they done it?

His scanners were still functioning so he looked at those. "Clear." It told him he hadn't been attacked. "Will you shut up!" He reached to silence the stupid alarm that was blaring. The noise was making it difficult to think.

He pulled up a schematic of his ship and was shocked to find a section was completely missing. "What the hell?" He looked at what was or used to be in that area.

"Secondary power generator." That was _not_ good. It meant all he had was main power and minimal battery.

"No… .no!" Rick looked at some of his other warning lights. He was leaking fuel, if a gushing stream of fuel could be called a leak. "Vincent?" he called; he could definitely use some help.

He got nothing back; he hurriedly checked more red lights. "The generator blew a hole through the main computer." He was ready to collapse. It meant Vincent was gone and never coming back. The computer would need to be replaced before it ever worked again.

Then he would need to purchase another Vincent. This job was turning into a nightmare. _"Communications_ _,_ _"_ was what he thought about next. He looked over his screens. "Oh, come on! Can't I get a break? Just a little one?" Rick slammed his hand into the screen which caused spider lines to appear on it.

It didn't matter. He was in trouble that was far worse. "Where am I exactly and what's near here?" He checked the screen. He wasn't on course any longer and it looked like he maybe never had been. "At least I'm not lost. Not completely." It still left him no where to go.

"70% fuel remaining." He needed to decide and decide right now. He thought for a moment and came up with a plan, consciously not listening to the internal voice that was telling him that his daughter was going to do much more than twist his ear for this.

He needed numbers which had him scrambling for the only computer he had left. It was smaller and nowhere near as powerful as Vincent but it was all he had. "Either this works or I blow up instantly," Rick said grimly then ran back to the cockpit.

He quickly made some adjustments, set his course. "I love you, pumpkin." He sent out a small prayer into the universe and pressed the button. It dumped every last drop of fuel he had into the engines. An overload FTL jump was what he was hoping for. He was in the middle of nowhere and wanted to end up in a far away system that he knew nothing about.

The empire hadn't even bothered to send a probe in this direction yet. They had enough concerns to deal with. He hadn't ever heard a peep about anyone giving a rat's ass about this sector of space. Still it was all he had to work with.

He was lifted up out of his chair and slammed into the ceiling. His world went black.

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Rick slowly opened his eyes. Unfortunately was it was still mostly dark. After finally convincing himself his eyes were open he found that the only lights that were still on were the emergency lights that used the batteries. It meant everything was barely lit.

He started to sit up and immediately groaned; he touched his hand to his head where it hurt. His fingers were wet. _"Why?"_ he wondered. He pulled his hand back and could smell blood on his fingers. He moaned from the pain. Sitting up made his head spin; his eyes slipped shut. He waited for a time before opening them again. Nothing had changed.

"Shit!" He looked around. His screens were dark. What had happened slowly filtered into his brain. "Explosion, damage… VINCENT?" Rick called again but was met with silence.

First things first, then. He lifted his arm and requested an atmospheric scanner. It popped out of his left wristband and he held it out a moment before moving so he could look at the readings. "Barely enough to breathe." It helped explain why his chest ached every time he took a breath. "Only a few minutes left." He needed to get out. The real question was where was he?

"Gotta get moving." Rick struggled to his feet causing him to groan since moving made his head hurt. He stumbled to the back living area. He stopped at his little computer. "Load." And watched it vanish into his left wristband. He checked and saw that he still had a fair amount of space for more items.

The right one was even more empty. "Okay…" He worked his way over to another area and opened the door. Inside was a large number of weapons and ammunition of various sizes and types. "Load," he commanded and waited. Everything that was there disappeared into his wrist band.

He loved Dimensional Compression technology.

 _Sometimes referred to as Flat Space technology, Dimensional Compression is used to store objects in a Pocket universe. Simple objects are stored/retrieved and more complex ones systematically deconstructed/reconstructed in a flow of sparkling lights. A significant number of items can be stored for easy retrieval without burdening the user with either weight or size. The technology mainly takes the form of easily overlooked wristbands, although 1 inch scabbards holding 42 inch swords are also seen. Handguns (some with 18 inch bayonets stored in their 6 inch grips), and ammunition are also hidden in this manner (the bullets flying from the wristbands into the magazines on command)._

His right wristband was now almost full; he'd loaded every weapon and ammunition round that he had in it. From there he moved each piece of equipment that even looked like it still worked. He also loaded every item he would need to make repairs for anything that might be damaged. Or so he hoped.

Next he picked up a small case and opened it. Once open, it started to glow from the open effect of Dimensional Compression. He started throwing clothes, pictures, and readers into it. But he was slowing down and breathing was starting to become more difficult.

He ordered up his atmospheric scanner and looked at the readout. He was out of air and out of time. What he had would have to do.

He picked up the case and stumbled over to his escape pod. Hitting the button got the door to open and he threw in his case followed by stepping inside and sitting down. Hitting another button closed the door behind him. "Bye Vincent." He was really going to miss him. Though with no power and a hole in the main computer, the unit was already effectively dead.

Rick started running his fingers over the controls. Suddenly he was able to breathe far more easily and the atmosphere was restored in his pod. Then he activated the restraint system and slammed his hand down on the button. It immediately caused the bolts to explode and shoot him out into space. His screens showed what was left of his ship disappearing behind him.

"Now what's in the area?" His pod couldn't go that far so there needed to be something. "You might work." He saw a system that had nine planets with two of them located in the sweet zone. He was too far away to read the atmosphere of either of them. His ship could have read from this distance but his little pod couldn't.

"Let's see how far." Rick started inputting the data he did have and got his answer. He groaned. "Two days travel time?" He looked around his tight one person space and groaned. Nowhere to go, no real place to even lie down. "No bathroom." He promised himself that his next ship was going to solve that not-so-small problem. "I forgot the food!" He let his head fall on the console which immediately beeped at him.

He lifted up his head to find out what he had done and fix it. After a mad scramble he vowed not to do that again. "Two days." He was really going to hate this.

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Rick was approaching orbit when he could finally get a reading on the planet that was below him. "78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. Sounds livable." He could at least breathe the atmosphere.

He was on the bright side so he didn't see much but continents and clouds. "Let's see what else we've got." He tried to scan for other items. "Oh great, the planet's surrounded by junk. This is going to be tricky." His pod was meant for escapes, not maneuvering through an asteroid field. "What else have we got? To get this amount of junk into orbit there has to be some sort of space flight." He grew hopeful. Maybe they had space travel.

"Space station… A little on the tiny side. Can't get readings on power generation. Hmm… what's this?" He pressed the panel and suddenly the pod was filled with music. "Communications, interesting." Rick tried to focus on one before moving on to the next one. "Both video and audio. All in the low range band. If they don't have FTL I may be stuck here." That thought didn't please him much.

A beeping sound got his attention. "Oxygen levels are falling. I need to land soon before the carbon dioxide builds up too much." If it did, it meant death – his. "No time like the present." He took a breath, adjusted his course, and worked at trying to avoid all the junk.

He'd barely started when he heard it. Things that didn't even show up on his screens were striking the skin of his pod. In only moments warning lights began flashing. "Hull breach." Rick silently swore; it looked like he was cursed.

"Make that two, three… four. Damn it, there isn't going to be anything left of me at this rate." The pod's oxygen levels plummeted. It was also becoming harder to keep any kind of course. The oxygen that was escaping was starting to force the pod into a spin that he was having trouble controlling.

Suddenly his arm hurt and unthinking, he slapped his hand over it. Lifting his hand away, he could see blood. He had been hit by a piece of space junk. "Okay, enough of this shit." He had hoped to be able to keep the pod but it didn't look like that was going to happen.

He dove into the atmosphere to get low enough to breathe. He started counting his lucky stars as more and more hits sounded against the hull, penetrating it.

He'd finally gotten low enough to breathe. "Goodbye pod." Rick blew the access door and jumped. He was in free fall for a time so he took advantage of that and looked around. He realized as he'd cruised down into atmosphere that he'd traveled into the dark side. It looked like he was going to land right in the middle of it. He could only just make out his pod as it flew across the night sky and headed for a large dark zone. He was a little thankful that it wasn't going to land on someone's head, or so it appeared.

"Lots of tall buildings and lots of moving lights." He wasn't sure how high he still was but it felt right. He ordered his chute to deploy and started gliding down. He searched the ground, looking for a place to land. A place that would not alert the locals to his arrival.

"No, no, no. Not there." Rick pulled and tried to adjust his descent. His choices were few and dwindling quickly. He had to make a choice and make it fast. He decided on a roof of a building that looked like it was only four or maybe five stories tall. He pulled both cords and drifted down nicely to land on the roof. He ordered the chute back into his storage space. It retracted and folded back up again.

"Now let's see what we've got." There were a number of taller building around him. The place stank something fierce and it was loud. He heard horns and other sounds that he didn't understand.

"Transportation, it looks like. What's all that junk billowing out the back? Are those wheels? I'm _so_ screwed." He let his head fall to his chest.

He could just hear his daughter now. She was going to rip him a new one, he was sure of it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Doppelgänger 3**

Rick leaned back into the sofa and faced Kate. "You know what I thought when I first met you? That you were a mystery I was never going to solve. Even now after spending all this time with you, I'm still amazed at the depth of your strength, your heart… and your hotness." He could see Kate thinking about every word and instead of making a snappy comeback at his last statement she just smiled.

"You're not so bad yourself, Castle." She meant it, too.

Now here they both sat, staring into each others eyes. Rick so wanted to lean in and kiss her, but knew if he made the first move Kate would run. It's what she always did when he came close to storming her walls.

" _God_ _,_ _Kate, just kiss the man. For the love of_ _all that's holy_ _. Come out from behind your walls and live. You want someone to dive into with both feet and never look back. You know deep down that Castle will jump with you."_

Instead her fears got the better of her. "Goodnight." She got up off of the sofa to go to her room.

"Kate."

She knew that he was asking her to stay. To stay and kiss him. To fuck his brains out, and she did want that. She really did. "Good night, Castle." And closed the door on him.

" _What does it take to reach you, Kate? If you would just let me in. Please come back out. We both know I'm not going to knock on that door. Please_ _, Kate,_ _come back."_

She leaned her back up against the door and ran her hands through her hair, finally resting them against her lips. Her internal struggle was eating her alive. Her heart wanted out from behind the prison walls that she'd built around it. As fast as it ripped down the bricks, the other half of her built the wall right back up.

" _I want to, I so very much want to."_ She could feel the beginnings of tears in her eyes. She was hiding. Castle was the first man to ever come this close to her heart since her mother had died.

" _If I open the door there will be no turning back."_ She could feel the struggle as her hand, that she was sure was shaking, actually reached for the door handle. Her heart willed her on, yet the wall builder stopped her.

" _Please!"_ It was enough to get her hand moving again and move the handle to open the door.

Now she was beyond scared. Castle was right where she had left him – sitting on the sofa staring at her door. She had no idea how she managed it but she walked back over to the sofa and sat down. Only this time she sat right next to him. "Castle, I…" She was completely at a loss as to what she should do. She had gotten this far but her courage was leaving her fast. She could feel the struggle to jump up and run for her room.

"Nothing has to happen, Kate, we can sit here and just talk. Or make out like a pair of horny teenagers," Castle grinned.

Kate snorted. It was typical Castle. The sweetest man she knew one second and an immature child the next. She knew that was why he was so much fun to be around. He could be a jackass and exasperating yet he made her life feel like she was actually living instead of just existing.

"Castle… I want someone that I can dive into with. Someone that I know will dive into it with me. Catch each other at the bottom. But I've never… I run because…" She needed help. She needed him to say and do the right thing. She was never going to spill her heart for anyone. Not unless…

Rick lifted his hand to cup her face. "You're the most amazing, frustrating, maddening, and extraordinary woman I've ever met. Beautiful, strong, tender and vulnerable. Let me catch you. I'll always be there, Kate… always."

His face got closer and she did nothing to stop him. It was what she wanted and yet feared simultaneously. It was going to be glorious and painful all at the same time.

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 **This section is rated M. Reader discretion is advised.**

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Kate slowly opened her eyes and worked at getting her mind in gear. It took a moment then she realized that she wasn't alone. She was snuggled up next to a body. A NAKED BODY! Even worse, she was equally naked!

What had she done? Then she felt it. She was sore in a part of her body that she hadn't been sore in for a while. She twisted her head around. Part of her was wishing, _"Please let it be Castle!"_ A smaller voice was begging something else. Anything else. Even another woman.

Her eyes landed on Castle and she felt her heart soar. It was a feeling that was both strange and exhilarating. It made her feel giddy and a soft giggle escaped her lips. She watched the sleeping man she was curled up next to. He stayed asleep which was good. It allowed her to try and remember what she had done.

They had kissed and let their hands wander until suddenly she'd shrieked like a little girl when Castle had lifted her up and carried her to his room. He had laid her down on the bed so softly and carefully, like she was a fragile porcelain doll that was going to break.

She found him above her and they were still kissing. Somewhere along the way they had both lost their clothes. She didn't really remember that but she relished the feeling of his bare skin against hers.

Kate felt him trail kisses down her jaw and down her chest till he was kissing, licking, and nibbling on her breasts. They weren't large and yet he was paying attention to them like they were perfect.

She heard herself moan and could feel the kisses and nibbles to her nipples travel like electricity straight to her core. She was becoming soaked and willed him to leave her breasts and travel further south, but he didn't.

In moments she held his head right where it was and willed him to continue what he was doing. It was impossible, it had never happened before. She was close, so very close. "Don't stop, Rick… please don't stop," she'd begged.

A heartbeat later she had her first orgasm. A breast orgasm. It felt incredible and was amazing. Now she wanted him to travel north so she could kiss him. Yet instead he started going south and was soon poking his tongue into her belly button.

She chuckled at the feeling since it kind of tickled. Finally he started going farther south and she used her hands to push his head faster. Wanting him to kiss her lips was still in her mind, but now she wanted him to kiss a different set of lips.

"GOD, RICK!" He was close but not close enough. "Stop teasing, Castle." She wanted action, not teasing. Kate guided his head to where she wanted his lips and tongue now. "Please…" She wasn't above begging now.

Rick was enjoying himself. Yes, he had a massive erection and wanted nothing more than to bury himself inside her, but that would be fucking Kate Beckett. Instead what he wanted most in life at this moment was to make love to her. Treat her like he knew she needed to be treated. Like she deserved to be treated.

He reveled in the feeling of her guiding his head where she wanted it. To hear her beg him. She had relinquished control to him. Kate Beckett was his.

He had been a little amazed that she had climaxed while he paid particular attention to her breasts. He had read about it but had never experienced it with any other woman. She truly was extraordinary.

Listening to her giggle while he worked his tongue over her belly button had made him grin. Teasing her was so much fun. He decided to continue his teasing when he finally reached her core.

She was soaking wet now and he was spreading it everywhere that his tongue and lips could take it. Listening to her beg him once more made him grin again. It didn't hurt that he was enjoying how she tasted. Kate had a musky yet metallic taste to her with a hint of a fruit that he couldn't identify.

Rick knew he was going to become addicted to her taste and was going to want to spend hours with his head planted firmly between her legs. She was still begging him so he finally gave in and started paying attention to her clit.

He was rewarded with hearing her scream as she clamped her legs tight to his head, trapping his head where it was. Since he was trapped there he just kept licking and nipping her clit till she begged him to stop.

Instead she began thrashing around, taking his head with her. He was starting to struggle to keep up with her. Then her body stiffened and her back arched. "RICK!" Suddenly a much larger amount of liquid spurted into his face. It had a different taste and he realized he was enjoying it. He opened wide and tried to take all of it.

Kate felt her second orgasm and they'd only just started. She feared that if he kept it up her clit was going to become too sensitive and she was going to be forced to make him stop. Instead the pleasure only increased. That orgasm had come running up on her so fast. This next one felt more like a freight train. It was rumbling through her body and she found herself thrashing all over the bed. She couldn't help herself. What he was doing had never happened with any other man. Finally she clamped her legs tight and screamed. She only knew that she screamed, not that she screamed his name.

She felt a sudden discharge of liquid from her core. She was soaking Castle's face with… pee? MY GOD, WAS SHE PEEING ON HIM?

Whatever it was he didn't move away and seemed to be enjoying himself mightily.

It took a moment for Kate to calm down. "Come up here, Rick." She reached down to pull him up her body so he was on top, since now she wanted to kiss him.

She felt him kiss his way back up her body and linger at her belly button again which made her giggle. He delayed a moment to kiss her breasts and nibble on her nipples.

Finally she got to kiss him. She could taste herself on his lips. The kiss was soft and so sensual and she wanted nothing more than to keep kissing him and tasting… them.

"Did I pee on you, Castle? I'm so sorry." Her cheeks bloomed cherry red; she was ready to die from embarrassment.

Rick shook his head. "Not pee, Kate… You came all over my face. It was delicious." He meant not just tasty delicious, but having her climax because of him was delicious.

"That's never happened before," she said, her eyes lowered. She didn't second guess why she would admit such a thing.

"Then I'll have to make sure I make it happen again." He smiled broadly and heard her giggle. Hearing her sound happy and knowing that she had climaxed three times already because of him made his heart soar. Kate Beckett was making love to him and letting him make love to her.

"Your turn, Castle." Kate flipped them using her legs and some leverage. She smiled down at him, pleased at the look of shock on his face. Rick was a big man and she knew he wasn't used to being flipped by a woman.

"Don't move." She began working her way down his body. Like he'd done for her, she paid attention to his nipples and then his belly button till finally she reached his cock. Her eyes widened. He was going to be a challenge because of his size. Still she was going to pay his erection the attention it deserved.

Kate licked up and down his shaft. She placed the head of his cock in her mouth and played with the slit at the top with her tongue. Listening to him moan told her she had found a spot. She decided to tease him like he had done to her and left his cock to pay attention to his balls while stroking his erection with her hand.

"KATE!" Rick begged for the first time. It made her smile. She resolved to hear him beg her even more.

"KATE… PLEASE!" He was ready to explode but she had left his cock and was looking up at him, grinning mischievously before going back to licking the length of his erection.

"K-A-T-E !" he pleaded and lifted his ass up off the bed. She felt his balls tighten and knew his climax was close. She removed his cock from her mouth and squeezed the base of his shaft, putting an end to his climax.

"GOD KATE, PLEASE!" She loved the sound of him begging. Then she got an idea.

"Don't move, Castle." Kate got out of the bed and ignored his pleas for her to come back. She sauntered out to the main room, her hips swaying as she walked, where she found what she was looking for. She fished out a few pieces and dropped them into a glass. She giggled all the way back to the bedroom. She was running around the hotel room buck naked, making love to Richard Castle, and about to treat him to a trick she'd learned.

She found him still lying on his back. Kate slipped back into bed, bent over his cock, and took hold of it, lifting it up before starting to lick her way up and down it. Taking the head in her mouth she tested to see if her muscles were relaxed enough to deep throat him. She tried plunging his cock into her mouth and tried to take him down her throat. He was a bit large for that and it caused her to choke a little and spit her saliva onto his cock.

She was ready; she took two of the ice cubes out of the glass and into her mouth. Then she took his cock back into her mouth. _"_ _ **KATE!**_ _"_ Castle felt the warmth of her mouth and the cold of the ice. Moving her tongue and the ice around the head of his cock, listening to him moan, and feeling him buck his hips was just what she wanted.

It only took moments. Rick lifted his ass up off the bed and screamed out her name. Kate felt his come explode into her mouth and she swallowed what was left of the ice and all of his come.

She crawled her way up his body kissing it as she went. "How was that Rick?" She had a very satisfied look on her face. She was completely happy that she had given him such pleasure.

"You are an amazing woman, Katherine Beckett. One of these days I'm going to make you mine."

She gasped at the implications. Had he just told her that he was going to ask her to marry him? "Rick?" It was way too early to be taking about a possible marriage. She was scared and excited all at the same time. But before she could stop him from asking her, he flipped her which made her squeal like a little girl again.

She watched him raise up and reach down to lift her legs and spread them wide. Then she felt the head of his cock at her entrance. He was going to fuck her. It was just what she wanted at that point in time. She wanted him inside her more than she'd ever wanted anything. "Fuck me." Kate was more than willing to ask for what she wanted and drew in a sharp breath when suddenly he plunged his cock deep inside her. It felt exquisite. She felt him pull out slowly before ramming it back into her. He kept doing that over and over again. While it was nice it wasn't enough. "GOD, RICK, STOP TEASING AND _**FUCK ME**_ _!"_

He kept her legs in his hands and actually pushed both of them toward her head as he started ramming his cock in and out of her faster and harder.

"GOD, YES!" Kate loved the feel of it. He was spreading her wider than she could ever remember any man ever doing before. The fact that she did a lot of yoga was showing its worth. Just how far Castle was bending her legs was amazing.

"FUCK, RICK… DON"T STOP!" She wanted to be fucked more than anything.

Rick was grunting with effort. He was going to come soon and he knew it. He was only vaguely aware of how far apart he was pushing Kate's legs and yet all that he heard was her begging him again.

"Come for me, Kate!" He thrust once more then reached his own climax. He felt her gush again and soak the sheets.

She screamed, "RICK!" And he saw the look on her face when she climaxed. It was like that of an angel smiling up at him. It was a look he knew he was never going to get used to seeing. He resolved to get that look on her face as often as he could.

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Kate had a letter in her hand with one hand up to her mouth; she felt the start of tears in her eyes. It was personal and it was addressed to her. It went straight to a heart that was more open now than it had been in a long time.

 _N_ _ow for the hard part, kid. It's clear that you and Castle have something real. And you're fighting it. But trust me, putting the job ahead of your heart is a mistake. Risking our hearts is why we're alive. The last thing you want is to look back on your life and wonder if only._

She looked over at Castle sleeping in the seat next to her.

"I did risk my heart, Royce. I just hope it was the right thing to do." She still had reservations but she had jumped in with both feet and so far at least, Castle had jumped in with her.

If their past was anything to go by, he would always be there. He'd risked his life for her and saved it she didn't want to think how many times. She had saved his because… If she was truthful with herself, it was because she was scared to death of losing him.

She looked at Castle again while he slept; she reached out and ran a finger down his cheek. "Not losing you now, Rick. Not now." Her heart was at risk and losing him now would do more than break it like losing her mother had done to it. It would end her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Doppelgänger 4**

Kate couldn't believe she had let Castle talk her into this. Yes, she had sat curled up next to him in the town car he'd arranged to take her home. She had even rested her head on his shoulder all the way.

He had offered to escort her up to her apartment. "I'll be fine, Castle. I'm a cop." What could possibly go wrong between her building foyer and her apartment? Granted she wasn't armed because they had just come from the airport, but nothing was going to happen. She had done this countless times before.

She had wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Kissed him with intention of doing so much more later tonight. She was still worried about what Alexis or Martha would think or say.

She was intruding on their space even if Castle did own the loft. They shared it with him for good reason. Rick had tried to reassure her. "They already love you, Kate, don't worry about it."

Still she was gnawing on her lower lip while trying to hide a smile as she rode the elevator up to her floor. She was already thinking about what to pack for her overnight bag. Something to drive Castle mad. She had a couple of outfits in mind as the elevator doors opened.

She was going to fuck his brains out this time. They had made love to each other the first time and it had been sweet and memorable. But now it was her turn and she was going to do things to his body that he likely hadn't thought was possible. It was going to be so much fun and very satisfying.

She was just putting her key in the lock when it struck her. She was falling in love with him if she wasn't already there. Part of her wanted to run, yet a bigger part of her wanted to be done packing so she could make it over to his loft.

She dropped her keys just inside the door and flipped on the lights. It looked like her space but it no longer felt like home. "Castle is home." Kate tried it on for size and liked it.

Then it struck her – Josh! She was still involved with Josh! Oh, god, she needed to do something about him. Like now, _right now._ Technically he was her boyfriend even if he wasn't. Not really anyway. She truly did like him but if she was honest with herself it was because he was never here. And that meant she didn't have to get that involved with him. Didn't have to share her heart with him.

He deserved better than a phone call but she didn't want to waste time that she could spend with Castle.

"Hi Josh, we need to talk," Kate said when he answered the phone.

Moments later she tossed the phone on the bed, happy with herself and disgusted with both herself and him. She'd never thought of Josh as being such an ass, but the things he had said after she broke up with him told her she'd been so very wrong about him.

It was partly why now Castle felt so right.

First things first. She got out a bottle of wine then a glass and filled it. Alcohol was called for if she was going to keep her courage up. She had already finished half of it before she went to her bedroom, intending to pack.

She left her glass on her dresser, stepped into her closet, and pulled down her small overnight bag. Tossing it onto the bed she moved back to the dresser where she took another big drink. Opening drawers she started looking for what she wanted. A matching bra and panty, thong to be more precise, went onto the bed. This was followed by a corset that she planned on matching with another thong. Then a garter belt and stockings. "Shoes." She needed shoes to complete the look. With shoes on the bed she went back to choosing clothes that she could wear for Alexis and Martha to see.

"Alexis and Martha." Kate reached for her glass and drained it. Since tomorrow was a work day she needed clothes to wear to work. It wouldn't do to go walking around wearing nothing but one of Castle's shirts, not with Alexis and Martha there.

She knew those two were part of the package and while she hadn't really thought about having children, Alexis wasn't a child. She shook her head to clear those thoughts. It was way, way too soon to have thoughts like this.

Satisfied, she gathered up her weapon, badge, cuffs, and radiation detector, then picked up her bag. She stopped at the door and turned to look back at her place. She would be back; she knew that.

Was she one day going to move in with Castle? Was she actually going to marry the man if or when he asked her? Her heart constricted at the fear and possible future elation that her life was actually changing.

She turned back to the door and opened it. What was on the other side were three men, all of whom sent fear jolting down her back. She was fast enough to drop her bag and start to pull her weapon. But that was all the further she got.

Her world went black.

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Rick had just come in the door and found a note from Alexis tell him she would be back maybe a little late and that Martha had up and decided to go to the Hamptons. Alexis wanted to know if he wanted to join her over the weekend.

"Spend a weekend with my three favorite women in the Hamptons." He liked the sound of that. Walk with Kate on the beach. Maybe even a little sex on the beach. Skinny dipping in the pool. "Alexis and Mother." _Pop!_ his dream vanished. Well there was still the walk on the beach and the master bedroom. Show her the shops in town, maybe even buy her a little something. Something that caught her eye.

He opened the refrigerator to check his supplies since he now had the idea of cooking her a gourmet meal, one fit for a queen. Since she clearly was one.

He needed supplies so went in search of the car keys. He would be back before Alexis made it home so he skipped leaving a note. He had the keys to the Mercedes but wondered if he should have gotten the keys to the Ferrari. He didn't need that much in the way of groceries. He was betting that Kate would kill to get behind the wheel and drive to the Hamptons with him.

He headed for the Mercedes and was just opening the door when he felt pain and his world went black.

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Kate jerked awake and looked around. It wasn't her apartment or the loft, that was for sure. It looked a little old and neglected. The next thing she noticed was that her hands were bound behind her back and her legs were tied at the ankles.

Then she saw a large tub filled with water and there were ice cubes were floating on the surface. Next were those same three men. One of them spoke to her. "Detective Beckett, nice of you to join us." The other two stayed in the background. She could tell that those two were armed while the one talking was not. "My employer needs to know how much you know. If you answer my questions we can make this quick or we can do this the hard way."

Kate gazed up at him and tried to remember if she had seen him before. He was tall though not as tall as Castle, she thought. His hair was light brown and a little curly. He had stubble on his chin and upper lip. Maybe a little more than simply forgetting to shave. In some other circumstance she might like the look. But he was talking about killing her.

She remained silent since she had no idea who his employer was or even who he was. "Have it your way." He motioned for one of his buddies to come forward. The next thing she knew her head was being forced into the tub of ice water. It was sudden and she had been caught off guard just a bit. She didn't have enough air and a little ice water made it into her lungs. She struggled mightily and didn't see the ringleader signal to lift her up.

Kate coughed and spat up water. As air went into her lungs it burned something fierce. "Tell me what I need to know," he told her again then signaled for her head to be plunged into the water.

She had no idea how many times she had been dunked into the water; at this point she was barely conscious. Her lungs burned like hell and breathing was difficult. She was only still upright because the thug who was dunking her head was holding onto her.

"Feel your lungs burning? It's the ice water and the warmer air when you breathe. Tell me what I need to know and this will end." Unfortunately, she had no idea who he was even talking about and missed the signal to have her head plunged back into the tub of ice water.

She could no longer keep her eyes open. She didn't even want to breathe any more since it hurt so badly. The guy who did the talking grabbed her by her hair, lifted her head up, and looked at her. He let go and let her head drop to her chest. Kate was done. The next dunk was going to be her last. "Take her; leave her in the alley. No witnesses," he told his two buddies.

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Rick had come to a while ago and had found himself tied and taped to a metal chair. He knew a few tricks about how to escape since he had tried some of them in the loft. Alexis had even teased him about his attempts to free himself. This was where he was going to put that practice to use.

He was still struggling and getting nowhere when finally the door opened. He immediately began insulting the men that came into the room. The problem was it came out garbled since his mouth was taped shut as well.

He was hoping that since his mouth was taped shut that that meant someone might hear him. "We were delayed, Mr. Castle. I trust your stay has met your requirements and you are satisfied with your care," he taunted.

Rick went right back to insulting him which only came out as unintelligible sounds. "We've already finished our conversation with your partner." Rick went rigid and stopped yelling.

" _Kate! What had they done to her? If they had hurt her he was going to kill them, all three of them!"_

"Shall we get started?" He ripped the tape off of Rick's mouth, which hurt like a son of a bitch.

"What have you done to Kate?" Rick growled; he was pissed as hell.

"You should be more concerned with yourself, Mr. Castle," he advised.

"If you've hurt her… So much as touched a hair on her head – I'm going to kill you." Rick glared at him wishing he had some super power like laser beams coming out of his eyes.

Instead the talker signaled and Rick felt a fist slam into his head. It almost knocked his chair over and man, did it hurt. Rick righted himself and spat out a little blood.

"I'll explain to you how this works. My employer wants to know what you know about him. Answer my questions and this will be over quicker. Hold out on me and it will take a lot longer."

Rick glowered at him. "I know everything about him." It was a bald face lie since he had no clue who the thug was talking about.

A quick nod and Rick's face was punched again. He simply spat out the blood that was filling his mouth. "Since we need you to talk, let's try something else." They all waited while one of the men left and returned with a small table and a hammer.

The writer resisted having his hand duct taped to the table but lost in the end. "Now, one more time. What do you know about my employer?"

Rick remained silent. The man nodded and a hammer came down on one of his fingers, fracturing it in several places. The pain was excruciating and Rick screamed.

Rick had calmed down a little though the pain was still intense. The man in charge offered him a glimpse of what was to come. "When we run out of fingers we'll move on to other body parts. Perhaps you'd like to have one of your balls crushed."

"Again, what do you know about my employer?" Rick suddenly screamed in overwhelming pain as another finger was smashed.

Rick was unconscious which was a blessing for him. "Bust his balls and dump him just around the corner from the 12th. Let his friends find what's left of him." He silently watched Rick being untied and the tape cut off. Then he was dragged out of the room.

After Rick was gone he took out a cell phone. "Neither of them knew anything. No sir, they will never bother you again," he assured him. "I don't think that's necessary. They aren't in any condition to even open their eyes let alone talk or walk." He had done his job; babysitting dead people wasn't part of it.

"Not enough," he informed his employer and heard the phone call end. "That's what I thought." He put the phone down on the table, lifted the hammer, and hit the phone several times until it was reduced to tiny bits.

It was time to find another job and maybe another employer. This one was even more homicidal than he was and that was saying something. The only difference was he was willing to get his hands dirty and do the work himself. His employer was a child who had temper tantrums and he was betting he was having one now.

He sighed and left the building. He had what he needed in the trunk of the car and less than an hour later he was on a train to the first city out of New York.

Kate Beckett and Richard Castle were no longer his concern. He had done his job and had money to go where he pleased. Plus unlike his employer, he had friends that would help him. He didn't have to buy his friends.

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Rick wanted to make sure he was unobserved up on this roof so he activated his clothes. All he had to do was twist a disk on his belt. If anyone had noticed him, they would have seen his clothes change to jet black as did his hair. He was satisfied that if anyone could see him they wouldn't be able to recognize him and give his description to anyone. Being concealed like that allowed him to walk around the edge of the roof.

A squealing sound caught his attention and he jogged to that side of the roof. Looking over the edge he watched a vehicle of some type open its side and shove a human male out. The door closed and the vehicle roared off. He used his left wrist band to retrieve a device and started taking scans of the vehicle. It showed him two men. One far forward and one in back. He lifted it up to look at it.

He now had their faces and if he wanted he could hunt them down later. For now he was curious as to who they had dumped on the ground. Getting down to the where the male was easy using his boots. He just kind of glided down and was soon standing next to him.

The man was lying on his side and Rick crouched so he could see his face. What he saw surprised the hell out of him. _"NO FUCKING WAY!"_ He knew he shouldn't in case the male had a neck injury but he turned him over onto his back so he could see him better. "Seriously?" It was like looking into a mirror. What were the odds?

He pulled out a different scanner and ran it over his body and looked at it. "All ten fingers are fractured in multiple locations." He knew that both hands were now useless. "HOLY…!" He found his other major injury. "Who'd you piss off to do that?" He cringed at the thought of what the male had endured.

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Snohbal couldn't believe what she saw. "Where the hell am I?" She looked around and didn't recognize anything. "What are these?" She tapped a window and tried to look through it.

It was dark outside and it was dark inside so she saw nothing. Before she moved a step she turned around to look for the door. She didn't actually see it and it scared her to death. Was she trapped here now?

She'd just wanted to find someplace safe to sleep. Finally she felt an edge and with some work she got the door open. It was camouflaged and extremely hard to see. She stepped through and found herself back on the landing with staircase going up and down. Satisfied she stepped back through the door. "Might as well look around."

It looked to be a dead end corridor outside. There was a door on her left that looked to be made of cheap metal. She was betting even she could rip it open with her claws if she wanted to.

She kept walking and hadn't gotten far when she saw a woman lying on the ground. There was blood everywhere around her and it was slowly spreading over the concrete.

Snohbal looked around to see if she could see who had done it. If they had done it to her maybe they were still here and wanted to do it to her.

However, she didn't see anyone. She bent down and rolled her over. She was bleeding badly from her midsection. She didn't recognize her or the clothes she was wearing nor anything else in the area.

"What happened to you?" Snohbal asked softly not expecting an answer. She shrieked and jumped back when the woman suddenly opened her eyes.

She wasn't dead yet!


	5. Chapter 5

**Doppelgänger 5**

"You're alive!" Snohbal didn't see how. There was _so_ much blood. She got down on her knees to look at her. She saw the fear in the woman's eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you," she murmured reassuringly. Snohbal may have been born on one of the 666 layers of the Abyss which was filled with evil beings, but for some reason she didn't think of herself as evil.

"Are you human?" Snohbal hadn't seen many races. Mostly just the one she saw at home. "Can you talk? Do you understand me?" Snohbal questioned since she didn't know that many languages.

"I have a way of communicating if you're willing. It will mean your death but you're going to die anyway." There wasn't anything she could do for her to prevent it. She took a blink from the woman as a yes. "I'm sorry." She apologized now since she didn't think there was going to be a chance later.

Snohbal leaned down, placed her hands on each side of the woman's head, then bent her head to the woman's. She had given permission so Snohbal gently kissed her, right on the lips. For the succubus it was a soft kiss, meant to convey trust. Kate, though, felt even more of her life drain from her. Kate had feared that she was dead; now she knew she was.

Kate heard a voice in her head. _"Who are you?"_ How was that even possible? _"Who are you?"_ She heard the voice again.

" _Kate Beckett, homicide detective, 12th precinct, New York City, New York, United States."_ Kate didn't know how she conveyed all that information since she didn't remember saying a word.

Kate had her own question. _"What are you?"_

" _My name is Snohbal, I'm a_ _s_ _uccubus from one of the 666 layers of the Abyss. I recently escaped my home since it doesn't feel like home to me. What happened to you? Just think about it, it will be faster."_ She feared this woman didn't have much longer.

Snohbal really wasn't prepared for the flood of information she got in response to her question. She watched and felt her head being dunked in ice water. The feeling of the water hitting her lungs.

" _They killed you. …_ _W_ _hy?"_ Snohbal listened to him ask his question over and over again. _"You didn't know."_ She could feel that. _"Tell me more, think about family and friends."_

Snohbal got hit with still more information. Lanie, Ryan, Espo, Jim, Roy, Karpowski, Johanna. _"Johanna, tell me about Johanna."_ She seemed to be the dominate name in everything. The name Johanna seemed to be very important to her.

" _She was murdered and you want to find who killed her. You are with law_ _e_ _nforcement. Interesting… Who is Castle?"_ Snohbal could sense his name even if she hadn't thought about him.

 _Suddenly Snohbal was_ _deluged_ _with really strong emotions and found herself making love to him._

" _You love him… You are really in love with him. But you_ _'re_ _scared. Why are you so scared?"_ She had the life that Snohbal wanted so very badly.

" _I can be you. You can live through me. It won't be you. You'll never know what happens, but I can be you. Let me be you. I need a new life."_ Snohbal practically begged for her permission. She tried to convey how badly she needed a new life. She so desperately wanted to escape her old one.

All she got back was one word. _"Castle."_

She removed her hands; the woman – Kate – had died. Her eyes were still open so she passed her hand over them and closed them for her. "I'm sorry, but thank you." For the first time in her life Snohbal wept.

She had a life. Someone she could live her life through. Snohbal spoke her heartfelt words. "I promise to do my best. I promise."

There was just one thing left to do. For her to become Kate Beckett, the real Kate Beckett needed to disappear forever and never be found. It took a little time but Snohbal had everything off of Kate Beckett just outside of the door. Now she just needed to get it open again.

After getting it open she picked up the naked body of Kate Beckett and carried her through the door. Then she walked over to the edge. "I'm sorry but I can't let anyone find you. Maybe the gods will be kind, find you, and give you a new life on another plane."

Snohbal dropped her and watched her fall into the Astral Mist. If that woman was right she was going to fall forever. Snohbal hoped she hadn't just committed Kate's soul to purgatory. To forever fall and never be found.

"I'm sorry… I swear to do my best. I promise." Snohbal stood there for a moment before turning back to the door. She still saw no one. No one knew she had just dropped the real Kate Beckett into the Astral Mist, to forever fall.

Once through the door she found everything right where she had left it. She may never be a succubus again. It was a sacrifice she was willing to make if it meant she could have a life.

It only took seconds for her to use a natural succubus ability. She changed her shape to perfectly match that of Kate Beckett. On the outside she was now Detective Kate Beckett. To anyone looking she was an exact match for the dead woman. Snohbal even had a lot of her memories. Accessing a lot of them was going to be hard for her. She was Snohbal and feared she would forget and lose herself to Kate Beckett.

She was going to be living Kate Beckett's life. Answering to the name Kate Beckett. Still she had promised. Snohbal tried it on for size. "I am Kate Beckett. Now who is Castle?"

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"Why do you look like me?" Rick asked, stunned. Suddenly the male's eyes snapped open. "You're awake! You're still alive! How is that possible?" He could only barely think of the pain he had gone through to end up like this.

His primary job function kicked in. "Who did this to you? I will hunt them down and make them pay." He made his decision. "I need to know, need to work fast." He really feared the male would die before he could learn anything.

He lifted his left hand and called for the device he wanted. He quickly attached the terminal to the male's temple. He knew doing this would hurt a little since it would actually penetrate through his skull and touch his brain. Just that it was one pain he didn't think he would notice after going through what he already had. He was wrong, though. He saw the male wince. "Begin download." Rick activated the device. Still he had questions and didn't want to wait. _"Who did this?"_

He looked at his device and watched as a man asked him questions then beat him before crushing his fingers and finally his balls. _"You didn't know, did you?"_ He was convinced even he himself would have told him if it had been him.

" _What is your name?"_ Just who was he?

He read from the display. _"Richard Edgar Castle."_ Then this appeared on his screen: _"Why do you look like me? Who are you?"_

" _My name is Richard James Rodgers. I'm a hunter. I hunt down unwanted people or creatures. I also hunt down objects. Objects that have been stolen from a person, company_ _,_ _or planet."_

His eyes went wide when he read that the male's name used to be Richard Alexander Rodgers.

Then the names Alexis, Martha, Kate, Ryan, Espo, Lanie, and Roy came across his screen. _"Tell me about each of them. Just think about them, it will be faster."_ Rick watched as Alexis changed from a newborn baby to a teenager. Followed by Martha growing older as he went from just a child to a grown man.

He got really interested when he watched Rick make love to a beautiful woman. _"Who is she? You love her. You are deeply in love with her. Why are you not married to her?"_ Anyone who loved another that much should be married, right?

" _I don't understand. You love her yet you are scared."_ What was Richard Castle scared of?

Rick slapped his device since it had stopped working. He looked down at him then lifted his other device and did a quick scan. "Dead." He sighed; he wasn't going to learn anything else.

He removed the terminal from the man's temple. "I can be you since I'm trapped on this planet. Live your life and mine through you. I hope that comforts you in some way," Rick said to the now dead man. "Since I'm a hunter I promise to hunt down who did this to you and extract an equal pound of flesh. Hopefully that eases your soul."

He retracted his devices and moved to his case. Opening it he took out a vial and then snapped the case shut. "I don't need to but it might be a good idea," he said to himself. He set the vial down and got to work stripping everything off of the body. "OH GOD!" He reached the writer's smashed balls. "Whoever did this to you really needs to suffer." He couldn't begin to imagine the amount of pain that would have caused.

Satisfied that he had everything he lifted the vial. "I promise to do the best that I can for both of us," Rick vowed and poured the vial's contents over the dead body. To be Richard Castle he needed the man's body to disappear and never be found again. He got up and stood back as he watched the liquid dissolve the corpse till the only thing left was a little liquid that stained the ground. It had taken just a few minutes for the entire process.

Rick took what he'd removed from the body and retreated into the shadows. He was just in time; a pair of male humans turned the corner and walked in his direction. They were in uniforms and he had no problem determining that they were both armed. Thanks to his dark clothes and dark hair they didn't notice him. It was time to find someplace where he could look over this Rick's memories. He needed to learn who Richard Castle was.

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Snohbal needed to get moving and she knew it. She needed to begin learning about this new home. "Home? Do I even have one?" She tried to access her new memories. What she feared was losing some of them before she could use them all. Neglect might equate to losing them forever. She might need some of those.

She searched the things that she'd taken off of Kate. They were round and shiny and connected by a chain. "Bindings… A key!" Snohbal pulled out the key. The big black thing on her hip was interesting but didn't have anything to do with home. There was another one, only smaller, attached at her ankle.

A small black box on her belt. Her pants had pockets. "KEYS!" She was suddenly assaulted by memories of a building, going inside, going up in a small box, inserting the key into a hole in a door.

There was something shiny and gold on her belt.

 **CITY OF NEW YORK POLICE**

 **DETECTIVE**

 **41319**

There was something about it, but she was interested in home. "How do I get there?"

She stuck her hands in her pockets and found a card with her picture on it. Well Kate's picture which was now her.

 **NEW YORK STATE**

 **DRIVER LICENSE**

 **ID: 96347732R**

 **BECKETT, KATHERINE HOUGHTON**

 **179 EAST THIRD STREET, #12**

 **NEW YORK, NY 10019**

 **DOB: 11-17-79**

In another pocket she found green and white pieces of paper. "One, Ten, Twenty. FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Money!" Money she understood since she had some from her home.

Snohbal started walking. She still didn't know how to get to this home. In the distance she saw one of those strange objects rolling across in front of her. "They're cars! TAXI! Transportation!" Now she knew how to get there. But how did she get one of these taxis?

Then her hand went to another pocket and pulled out something really strange. It was really thin, white on one side and had a picture of clouds on the other. Her new memories told her just what it was. "Communication… This thing?" She didn't understand how it was supposed to work.

She walked to where she'd seen the other taxi and saw another. She raised her arm and stepped closer to it. She was smiling when it came right over to her. Snohbal showed him her badge which also exposed her weapon on her hip. "179 East Third Street," she told him.

"Get in." He nodded, indicating the seat behind him. She looked through the window. "Get _in."_ How did she do that? _"Maybe…"_ She reached for the protrusion on the side and found she could pull a section off. It allowed her to get inside and close it behind her.

She was amazed as the driver drove her to the address she'd told him. There were buildings as far as she could see. There were cars everywhere. Most of them were yellow like the one she was in, but not all of them.

Suddenly a screaming sound unlike one she'd ever experienced before could be heard and was getting louder. She looked around for it. Suddenly it went flying across the front of the taxi from right to left. It was mostly white with blue stripes and said NYPD on the side. There were also flashing red and blue lights on the top.

Snohbal felt herself being forced back into the seat. Everything changed; she was sitting up front in a car. There was a shotgun, something between her and the person sitting behind a round thing. She could hear that same sound. Looking down she was wearing the same dark blue clothing the guy driving was wearing.

A voice brought her out of her head. "We're here." He turned his head and called out through a small opening in the clear plastic that separated them. "MISS, we're here."

There was a red number on the box next to him and she handed him some of her green and white papers. She got out and watched him leave then turned to look at the building. It looked rather plain to her. Other buildings were far better looking. At least she now knew what to do and how to get there.

She was soon stepping out of the tiny room that moved and was walking down the hall to a door, walking past a few others just like it.

Snohbal knew to put the key in the hole. Turning the key got her inside. Just inside she found a bag laying on the floor. Looking around, everything seemed familiar. Yet all of it was new to her. She ignored the bag for now and started walking around. It all looked so familiar and yet felt so strange. Everything about this place was just strange.

She started to question her leaving home till she remembered why she had wanted to leave so badly. "I promised." That was the most important thing to her.

It was time to find out what she had and what she had brought with her. In only minutes she had everything spread out on a piece of furniture in what she knew was the living room. Snohbal huffed out a laugh. Everything was new to her. Every single item. "This is going to take some time." There was so much to learn, so much to try and remember.

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Rick had a lot of reading to do. His only real question was just how much of that Rick's memory did he actually have. The next big question was how he was going to fit in. "I hope you weren't some kind of doctor, like a specialist surgeon." If that Rick was, he was in big, big trouble.

He adjusted his clothes to mimic what the other Rick had been wearing, stepped out of the shadows, and started walking.

Thanks to his travels this city didn't look all that alien to him. A little old school, yes, but familiar enough that he knew what most everything was. "How the hell did these people get that much junk out into space?" Everything looked so… OLD.

"First question, where do I live?" He looked at his data and saw an address. Looking around it wasn't hard to tell that the yellow vehicles were there to take him where he wanted to go. However, he likely needed money. He checked his pockets where he had put everything he had taken off of that Rick. He pulled out something that looked to be made of leather.

 **NEW YORK STATE**

 **DRIVER LICENSE**

 **ID: 22879108M**

 **CASTLE, RICHARD EDGAR**

 **595 BROOME STREET**

 **NEW YORK, NY 10013**

 **DOB: 4-1-69**

At least he had an address. Continuing to search what he had he found a set of keys and then came across something else. "Hmm." He looked it over and saw that it required him to swipe his finger across the screen. Doing so only brought up a code he had to input using numbers. "Locked… Portable computer maybe?" He looked around till he saw a couple of people walking, holding something similar to their ears.

"Communication device." Now he just needed the code. But first he needed a ride. Watching others for a little while he worked out how to flag one down.

Success! He got in the back. "595 Broome Street," he told the guy in front and sat back to wait. A little later Rick got out after handing him some green and white pieces of paper that had numbers on them.

Studying the building, he thought it looked a little old. The ground floor seemed to be a restaurant since he saw tables out front with people seated around them and eating. He went to the number and found a guy standing there who opened the door for him. "Welcome, Mr. Castle."

Rick smiled at him and patted him on his shoulder a little and walked inside. Then he stopped. "Anyone home?" he asked him.

"Your mother left several hours ago and hasn't return. Miss Alexis is also not yet home."

Rick did his best to keep his mouth closed. _ALEXIS!_ This Rick had an Alexis? He wondered what the differences were. Then it struck him. _MY_ _ **MOTHER**_ _?_ This Rick lived with his _mother?_ With what he was guessing was his daughter.

He didn't remember going up the elevator or how he got to the door that the directory downstairs said was his. At least he was on almost the top floor. Inserting the key and opening the door, he found it was dark. It took some searching before he found the switch that turned on the lights. What he saw was not what he was expecting to see. He saw a set of stairs leading up to the next floor. "I have the top two floors."

The main floor had high ceilings. A large leather sectional to sit on. A large table that he was betting people gathered around to eat. "Kitchen." He searched it, opening cabinet doors and generally poking around. Then he found something. _"Be home late. Grams has gone to the Hamptons. A"_ He took the _A_ to mean Alexis. _Home late_ didn't help since he didn't know what time it was now or what late meant to her or the other Rick.

"At least his mother isn't here. _The_ _Hamptons?"_ He definitely had a lot of reading to do. "First things first." He needed to search this place. If he was going to live here, he needed to know his way around. "So much to do."

He hoped he missed seeing this Rick's Alexis come home. He wasn't ready to face her yet even if he was dying to see her. He really did miss his Alexis. He didn't even know where she was now. Last he knew she was headed out on a job to pick up someone, much like he had been doing.


	6. Chapter 6

**Doppelgänger 6**

Snohbal needed to figure out exactly what she'd stolen from her previous home. It was highly unlikely that they would ever be able to chase her down after he realized he had been robbed. Still she needed to be careful. She chose one of the books first.

 _At first glance, this book appears to be covered in rather old leather with two newer leather straps holding the book closed. Upon further investigation, the leather binding on this book is actually human skin. The book contains 100 pages. Each page is an extradimensional space within the covers of the book. The first two pages contain the tools required to harvest samples from the creatures that are to be logged within the book. The tools that are contained within include: a narrow sharp knife for skinning, a small hatchet, a hollow section of dragon bone that has been sharpened for collecting liquid samples, a writing utensil, and goggles that enhance the wearer's vision to a distance of three feet. Each additional set of pages are broken down into four sections_ _as follows_ _._

 _Section 1: Contains drawings of the creature and the name of that creature._

 _Section 2: Contains a detailed description of that creature including physical characteristics and how that creature behaves in and out of combat._

 _Section 3: Contains small leather straps to hold physical samples from the creature (examples: skin, claws, hair, teeth, etc.)._

 _Section 4: Contains eight vials to store liquid samples from the creature (examples: blood, saliva, urine, etc.)._

Snohbal was really shocked when she opened the next book. It didn't actually have pages inside it. It turned out to be hollow and held a number of small crystals along with a description of each one.

 _1\. The Crystal Parrot does have a clear and genuinely useful purpose – you turn it on, and it watches over the room_ _in which_ _you've set_ _it_ _. If intruders come in, the parrot sends you a telepathic message that you have uninvited guests._

 _2\. The Crystal Owl_ _communicates with its owner by telepathic means, informing her of all it sees and hears._

 _3\. The Golden Lions become normal adult male lions that follow your commands._

 _4\. Ruby Raven can be used to send a message over any distance on the same plane of existence to any single person._

 _5\. Diamond Stick of Rain can summon a thunderstorm complete with balls of hail the size of a marble._

 _6\. Dizzy Crystal will make everyone around the user dizzy within a 60 foot radius so long as they remain in the area of affect. The user is immune to the_ _e_ _ffect._

Snohbal wasn't sure what they could be used for, but they might come in very handy. She had been expecting a book, not items. Still she moved on to the third of four books.

 _The Sibylline Book_ _contains_ _prophecies_ _which are consulted in times of danger and disaster_ _._

"Predictions of the future." Snohbal was interested to know if she was anywhere in this book. Problem was it was thick and as she turned pages to take a look it was proving to be far more difficult than she thought.

The first page she could read since she understood the language in which it was written. The next 16 pages were written in a language she didn't understand. Then it changed to yet another language that fortunately she understood just enough to read it.

She didn't have time for this so she moved to the last book. So far she was happy with what she had stolen but wasn't sure how useful any of them were going to be to her.

Snohbal moved on to the next book. This one looked a little thicker than any of the others which made her wonder what was in it. Turning it open to the first page she quickly found that it unfolded and she had buildings, lamp posts and other things. It even had these towers on stilts on top of a few of the buildings.

She was puzzled because none of these buildings looked anything like the buildings in her home. For one they didn't have lamp posts and none of her buildings were built using brick. Plus there was a lot of glass. Turning to the next page, up popped some really tall buildings, one even had what she thought was a silver top. "This makes no sense." The rest of the book was more of the same. It even included bridges and what looked like entrances to tunnels. "Where is this?" Snohbal said to herself and sucked in a breath when suddenly words showed up that hadn't been there before.

 _Brooklyn_

This word suddenly hit her with a memory of Kate Beckett. "This is this city or at least a part of it." She turned back a few pages. "Where is this?" She watched in amazement as a new word appeared.

 _Queens_

"The book is this city! How is that possible?" She didn't know of anyone who had been here. Granted she'd kept to herself as much as possible so she didn't know that many people, but still, this was amazing. As interesting as it was, what good was it? What could she possibly use it for? She sighed and closed the book. She would play with it when she had more time.

Next was the globe she'd found. It was small with a wooden base. Inside it was what she thought to be a fist-sized blue-white gem that had tentacles reaching out from it and touching the side of the globe when she placed a finger against the globe.

Looking all over it, even the bottom, garnered her nothing. She placed a tentative finger against the glass and watched as a blue pulse came from the center and danced at her fingertip. Since it didn't hurt and she didn't feel any different, she placed her entire hand on it. Her touch caused most of the blue tentacles to pulse and shimmer. Still she didn't feel or sense anything different.

Since she felt no need to keep looking at what she had, she left it for now.

Next was the dagger – the prize that she had gone there for in the first place. She had heard stories about it from overhearing others talk. If what they said was to be believed this might be the most powerful thing she had ever owned. Not that it used to be hers but was now.

She didn't think of herself as being evil even if stealing might be thought of as being an evil act. However, the person that had owned it now held a little less power which she saw as a good thing.

She picked it up and studied it closely. Some items required a command word to activate others just needed you to use it. Some did things simply because you had it in hand or on your person. It wasn't that big but she didn't know where to hide it on her person all day long. "Maybe a scabbard strapped to my leg. Instead of the gun that's there now?" Snohbal reached down her leg where she had attached the holder the held the gun.

"The other leg maybe?" she wondered. Now she needed a place to get the scabbard for it. "Where do you get a scabbard for it to attach to my leg?" she questioned out loud. Suddenly she saw a glow coming from the pages of the last book at which she'd looked.

She opened it and flipped pages until she saw the spot that was glowing. "Where is this?" Snohbal asked it and was rewarded with a building's name and an address.

She started smiling and laughter bubbled up. "It will show me where what I want is." Maybe this book was going to come in handy after all.

Now that she had somewhere to go she went back to the dagger. The stories said an actual Red Dragon was inside it and when called forth would serve you and do as commanded. Calling it forth now would not be a good idea. For one this place was probably way too small for it and calling for it now would destroy it. "I definitely need that scabbard." She now had a bodyguard of sorts. Since she shied away from actual physical combat she now had a dragon who was all physical combat. That pleased her greatly.

She was finished with what she had come here with save for a few personal items and some food that was in her bags. Along with a little bit of coin from her world.

She was in what Kate was calling a living room. Next to it was a kitchen. "Food." It reminded her that she was starving since she had only eaten a snack back on a landing with stairs.

She started opening cabinets and found a number of things, none of which was really food. They were mostly utensils to cook or eat with. Opening a larger container she was in shock. "It's cold inside." She closed it only to reopen it. "Still cold."

Inside she found a number of white containers. She pulled the first one out, looked at it, and sniffed. "EWW!" She threw in the sink behind her.

In under a minute the refrigerator was empty and the sink was full. "What in the world did she eat? I'm _not_ eating that crap." She needed to get rid of it all since it was starting to stink up the place. She remembered seeing something and soon she had a white bag filled with what she'd tossed in the sink inside it and tied it closed. "Now where does it go?" She didn't want it staying here. The stench would be terrible.

Somehow she knew it was outside, out back. She walked past the bag that was still on the floor, down the elevator and out the back door where she found an alley and threw it in a dumpster where all the other trash looked to be.

Once back upstairs and in her space, she picked up the bag and took into into the living room. Curious as to what was inside it she opened it and started pulling out its contents. Snohbal's eyes went wide at some of it. For a reason that escaped her some of it was sexy and she was dying to see what she looked like wearing some of it.

She was holding up the corset, the likes of which she had never seen before. She fell back against the sofa as the memories hit her. "SEX, she was planning on having sex. Lots of sex… but with whom?" The idea of having sex with someone was one thing she was very, very interested in. Right up until she remembered what happened to those she kissed.

"CASTLE!" He was the man she was in love with but scared of at the same time. That made no sense. Bags like that one were used for travel. To go somewhere and either stay or take something to another person. Based on what was in the bag and how strongly Kate Beckett felt about Castle, she was betting Kate Beckett had been planning to go over to his place.

Snohbal sighed heavily. "Where does Castle live?" It was likely in her memory somewhere. But then her map started to glow and she opened that page. It was there she saw his name and his address. "Okay, then where am I?" she asked it and had to change pages to see where she was located. "Too far to walk, can't use my wings… Another yellow vehicle. Is that the only way to get around?" Unfortunately the map didn't answer her question.

She wondered what was she going to do with Castle. Kate was obviously in love and they had clearly had had sex. While the prospect of loving someone and having sex was certainly appealing, reality crept in. "I'll kill him if I kiss him." She feared she would drain him dry. "Maybe a single kiss every year?" Yeah, it even sounded stupid to her. "So much for searching out Castle." Snohbal came to the conclusion she was going to stay alone.

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Rick had found an office and what looked like a bedroom, both of which were clearly masculine looking. The rest of the place had a few feminine touches spread out all over. He was betting this Rick's, Alexis, and his mother were the contributors of this.

Still it was a good place to study. He set up his reader and started reading what he had downloaded of this Rick's memories.

"HE… I mean, _I'M_ a writer? Well, fuck." He figured he was so dead. What did he know about writing? He was a hunter. Since he had no choice really he went back to reading. He was learning and trying to remember everything.

"I work for the police?!" That sounded a lot more like him. This was something he could get behind big time. Then he groaned. "I'm only an unpaid consultant for the 12th precinct." Suddenly his happiness at the prospect of working for law enforcement just took a big hit.

"I work with Roy Montgomery, Kevin Ryan, Javier Esposito, and Kate Beckett." Suddenly he was inundated with information on Kate Beckett. He was going to hate this part but he had done it a few times before. He took out the terminal and attached it to his temple. He winced in pain since it always hurt. But it was faster and easier to learn and remember.

 _Katherine Houghton Beckett. Homicide Detective for the New York Police Department._

" _She's gorgeous!"_ Rick commented as pictures and even movies were sent to his brain. _"He loves her yet fears her rejection of him. Why…"_ Just who _was_ Richard Castle? Was he that big of an ass?

" _They work together to solve murders. They_ _'_ _ve saved each others lives. He loves her!"_ Suddenly he saw a naked Kate Beckett through the eyes of Richard Castle as he made love to her. _"He doesn't just love her he thinks of her as being a queen, a goddess even. Extraordinary!"_ He could hear and feel the word over and over again.

" _He's writing books based_ _on_ _her and the work and life she lives."_ That was a shock. It also made him wonder how she felt about being immortalized in a book.

Rick was immersed in understanding this Rick. "Hi Dad. Dad... _DAD!"_ Alexis didn't recognize the box on his desk but the wire leading to his head gave the impression that he was listening to something and was zoned out, not even aware she was there.

He snapped his head around to face her and yanked the terminal off his head. "ALEXIS!" He recognized her immediately. _"_ _Blessed universe! S_ _he looks so much like my Alexis."_ He couldn't believe the resemblance. Maybe if they stood side by side he could pick out his, but holy…

Alexis tilted her head. "Dad?" He didn't usually yell at her. Not even when she was little. Had she shocked him that much? Or was he listening to something he shouldn't be? Knowing her father it was likely the latter.

"You caught me by surprise. How was your trip?" He quickly remembered the note she had left him.

"It was good, we found the books we needed for our project at school." Alexis was happy about that. "What were you listening to?" She was curious. Her father preferred reading to listening, unless maybe it was music.

" _SHIT! How did he explain he was listening to her dead father's memories?"_

"Audio book… It sounded interesting." Actually learning about his new life _was_ rather interesting.

"It must be if you zoned out on it. I'm going to bed since I'll be up really early tomorrow to start work on our project. Don't forget we're going to the Hamptons this weekend. Grams is already there." It was another reason to start really early. She wanted to make sure she was free to go to the Hamptons and spend it with her grandmother and her dad.

"Hamptons." He needed to do a search of his memories on the Hamptons. "Maybe." Rick decided to be noncommittal.

Alexis turned her head since she didn't like the sound of that. "Did you and Detective Beckett catch a case?" It was the only thing she could think of that would keep him in the city. He loved the house in the Hamptons as much as she did.

"Not yet." Another noncommittal response.

"Maybe you can invite her if you don't catch a case." Alexis knew her father was falling in love with the homicide detective. If she was asked to tell the truth, she kind of hoped he was. But Kate didn't appear to be interested in her father that way. Honestly the detective was starting to piss her off over how she treated her father.

"Perhaps." Actually after knowing that the two of them had had sex thoughts of what what she would look like in a tiny swimsuit ran through his head. Granted he had seen her naked, but he wanted to see just how sexy she truly was.

Alexis walked right up to his desk. "Dad, please don't let her hurt you. Detective Beckett can be nice, but… Don't let her mess with you." Don't let her hurt you and let her get away with it.

"You'd be willing to let her come?" Rick needed to know what she thought. He could already guess Kate would jump at the chance to come, based on what he knew.

"Of course. I know Grams likes her. It'll be good to see her when she's not working." Alexis wanted to find out what kind of person she was when not at work or thinking about work. Was she willing to be a part of their family? If not, her dad needed to dump her before he got hurt.

"Then I'll be sure to ask her." Oh, he was going to ask her all right. The _n_ _ot tak_ _ing_ _no for an answer_ kind of asking.

"Good…. I may not see you in the morning. Have a nice day chasing down killers." Alexis smiled at him and if he was close enough she would kiss his cheek. Instead she turned and headed for her room.

Rick relaxed and let out a breath. As first meetings go it wasn't that bad. He decided that he would need to spend the night going over and being a part of this Rick's memories. If Alexis could almost trip him up he could only imagine what others who knew him could do.

Plus he needed to learn how to write since that was going to be his new vocation. He speculated as to how much time this Rick spent writing and how much time he spent with the local law enforcement.

"Talk about a steep learning curve." He wondered just when he would screw up. Telling them that their Rick was dead and he was Rick now was out of the question. If this Alexis was anything like his Alexis, she and maybe others would be shattered at the news. Even worse they would shun him and maybe throw him out.

"Back to it," he told himself and grimaced from the pain when he reattached the terminal to his temple. He needed to learn a lot.


	7. Chapter 7

**Doppelgänger 7**

Snohbal's eyes snapped open and she was suddenly afraid. Nothing looked like it should. _"Damn, she_ _'_ _d been caught and was in some weird prison."_

But as she woke up and became more aware of her surroundings, she worked out where she was. "I'm in Kate Beckett's apartment." Sitting up she looked around and saw everything just like she remembered. "Must have fallen asleep." A growling sound coming from her stomach told her she was starving.

She was also hearing a beeping sound that was coming from her. She searched herself till she found that thin flat thing. "Communication," she suddenly remembered. It was showing a time and was flashing and beeping. Touching the button stopped it.

"Why?" She searched her memories. "An alarm so I can get up, get dressed and go somewhere." Snohbal tried to think. "My job as a cop… of course." She was ready to smack herself.

She was up and went into the bedroom where she stripped off yesterday's clothes. "Kate takes a shower… with water!" This was going to be interesting.

Stepping into the bathroom where the shower was, she saw herself in the mirror. She thought she looked pretty. Her breasts were a bit smaller than her natural ones. Cupping them in her hands told her how much smaller. She also pinched her nipples which brought a sudden wave of pleasure followed by a flood of memories. Castle was licking, sucking, and biting her breasts and nipples. The memory was enough that she closed her eyes as she pinched her own nipples till she felt herself have an orgasm.

"Castle gave Kate an orgasm just by touching her breasts!" That was new for her. Then she let her head fall forward till it rested against the mirror. "If I kiss him I'll kill him," Snohbal moaned. She had always wondered why she had been born a succubus. Now she had reason to wish she wasn't. "Kate loves him and I'll kill him." She raised her head. "So I won't kiss him or go anywhere near him. If she loved him, she would hate me if I killed him." She was firm in her resolution. She would avoid the temptation, the desire to kiss him and have sex with him.

"This is going to be bad." She could feel that Kate wanted him even if she feared what that might cause. "But why?" Kate Beckett wasn't a succubus. Her kisses wouldn't kill him. Just what did she fear?

It took a little work but she was soon standing in the shower, feeling water hitting her body as she washed it using the products that she found in the shower. "Oh, I'm going to love this!" Maybe two showers each day. Maybe three!

Snohbal opened the armoire that was in her bedroom and studied her clothing choices. "What did you wear, Kate?" She tried to search her memory and began pulling out clothes including a bra and panties.

"How do you put this thing on?" She understood the need for a bra but getting the stupid thing to fasten behind her back with her hands turned inside out was a pain.

She put on the boots that had a rather high heel. Her memories told her these were Kate's favorite, that she wore them a lot. She got up to walk to the living room. "How do you walk in these things?" She grabbed hold of the armoire to hold herself upright.

She walked carefully with a jacket in hand to look for her weapon, cuffs, and other things. She put her dagger in an inside coat pocket with the intent of finding this place later today. "How do I get there and where is it?" She tottered over to her book and opened it. "Where is the 12th precinct?" Kate asked it and saw it start to glow. She tried to memorize the route between here and there.

"Now how do I get there?" Snohbal headed for the door thinking she needed another one of those yellow cars. She locked her door. "I know how to drive!" She rested her forehead against the door. "I'm in so much trouble." Still she liked it here better than her old home.

She just wished she could actually kiss this Richard Castle with whom Kate was in love. She didn't want to send him packing. Having sex with him sounded like so much fun. Plus she had promised. "There has to be something." She stepped into the tiny room that moved and went outside.

Flagging down one of these yellow cars was getting easier. Simply telling him 12th precinct got him moving. After handing him his money and watching him pull away, she stood there for a moment looking at the building.

Now for her first big test. Kate Beckett worked here in a position she herself knew nothing about. "Please don't let me screw this up," Snohbal asked the empty space in front of her.

Going inside, she paused for a moment, seeing the 12th through Kate's eyes. "I need to be on the fourth floor." She looked around for this building's moving room.

Stepping out into the bullpen, she almost stumbled from the flood of memories that hit her. People's faces, names, events. Kate had spent a lot of time here. She even knew where her desk was. She only saw a few people. She felt like she knew them but couldn't think of their names. Sitting down, she wondered what to do next. She was soon opening drawers and rifling through them. Then she pulled out something that actually caused her to tear up.

"Her mother was murdered." Snohbal put the crude stick figure back in the drawer and closed it before she really did start to cry. Next she began looking over everything on her desk. What the big thing was escaped her for the moment so she kept looking. "What are these?" She picked up something that had what she took to be a family of some type of animal. It looked interesting but she carefully set it back down.

There was an item right in front of her that had letters and numbers all over it. Picking it up she found it weighed almost nothing.

"BECKETT! When Castle gets here I want both of you in my office," a black male yelled at her, his voice telling her she was in trouble.

" _What did you do Kate?"_ Snohbal needed to start searching her memories. "Sir," she replied but it didn't slow him down a bit. He closed his door hard enough that the blinds rattled. "Great."

"Beckett… how was LA?" A man with a tan complexion moved past her to sit down at a different desk. "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes; he's mad."

Snohbal opened her mouth then closed it. _"His name is Javier Esposito. Javi or Espo."_ She decided to tease him. "Jealous, Espo?"

"Sunshine, beaches filled with bikini clad women. Hell, yes," Espo retorted then turned to start his work. Kate watched him turn his screen on so she started feeling around for the button on hers to do the same.

Espo looked at her and spoke again. "You at least got the guy, Beckett. I'm sure Royce's happy. Just get ready to have your ass handed to you when Montgomery decides to remove it."

"Yeah." She looked toward where the black guy had gone. "He did sound mad."

"Furious is more like it, chica. You and Lanie are going to need an entire bottle tonight to forget today." Espo could only guess where Kate would go and do to get over today.

"Lanie, yeah." Snohbal knew the name and even had a face to put with it. However, it sounded like she and this Lanie knew each other well and that was bad. "Maybe another night." She didn't need the trouble dealing with someone who knew her well so soon.

Espo raised an eyebrow. "As if Lanie is going to give you a choice." He huffed a laugh and turned back to his work. That did _not_ make Snohbal happy.

It was a little later that she watched a thin white male walk in and sit across from Espo. He didn't say a thing, though he did look at her.

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Rick lifted his head as he sat up quickly which only caused him to moan in pain; his neck hurt like hell. What had awakened him? Realizing it was early morning had him guessing it was the front door, meaning Alexis had just left.

His head thumped in time with his heartbeat. He screwed his fists into his eyes then start to rub his temples which was when he found that the terminal was still attached. "Oh, yeah." He pulled it off and flinched at the pain. "They could at least make one of these that didn't hurt," he moaned.

His body stiff and aching, he got up so he could go take a shower. All that did was remind him that he had fallen asleep on the desk and it wasn't just his neck paying the price. "I'm going to need a pain pill." He staggered to his bedroom and stripped.

A now clean, dry, and naked Rick stepped into the walk-in closet for the first time. "Wow, this Rick has clothes… and shoes." He found a lot of quality garments and accessories to choose from. With his choice laying on the bed he started opening drawers. "I should have slept in this bed." He really wished he had and vowed to sleep in a bed tonight.

It was a little difficult to remember but he needed to be at the 12th precinct to start his day. "Chasing down killers." He was going to like this job. The writing part of his second job, not so much.

He couldn't find and couldn't remember Rick carrying a weapon, however that didn't stop him. He had on his wristbands so he was well-armed. Extremely well-armed.

Flagging down a taxi, he tried to remember what he had been reading and had learned. He needed to fit in like he was the real Rick. He paid the taxi driver and went inside, straight to the elevator.

Stepping out of the elevator felt very familiar. After a short walk, he saw her. Kate Beckett. Instantly his mind went to them making love and listening to him tell himself that he loved her. He knew he couldn't push her or she would reject him.

"Extraordinary," he whispered and kept walking.

Rick had only just reached her chair where she still had her back turned to him. He was all set to lean down and kiss her cheek when what he really wanted to do was kiss her deeply.

" **BECKETT, CASTLE, MY OFFICE!** " a voice bellowed as both of them looked at the captain's office.

Rick saw a well-dressed black man retreating from his door into his office. _"What did I do?"_ He tried to search his memories but came up empty. Looked like it was going to be another long night learning and getting this Rick's memories.

He let Kate go first. He couldn't help but notice that the look on her face showed that she was worried. "CLOSE THE DOOR," the black man commanded, sitting at his desk. Since Rick was the last one in he shut it. He couldn't help but notice two men and really the entire office looking their way.

" _We must be in big trouble."_ Rick vowed to find Rick's memories after this to find out for what he was about to have his ass chewed off.

"You two…" Roy was really mad. "I can barely think of one reason why I shouldn't take your badge and gun and kick you to the curb." He'd actually considered firing her. "You knew what you were doing was wrong, but did that stop you?" He was just getting warmed up.

"Sir…" Snohbal had a good idea why Kate did what she'd done, but she also knew that doing it would get Kate into trouble.

"Did I ask you for your opinion?" Roy glared at her and then stared Rick down; the writer wisely remained silent. "The only good thing out of all of this was solving the theft of those dissolving bullets." Roy could only guess what a group could do with those. They left behind no ballistics with which to convict someone. He hoped the manufacturer couldn't reproduce them. "And that's the only thing. Even after I told you to drop it and come home you disobeyed my direct order." Roy really was pissed. Pissed that he had let Kate do this. He knew just what she'd planned to do and yet he'd done nothing to stop her.

"Beckett, you are the best I've ever seen, yet you just won't see the politics of what you do. To you everything is completely black and white. There's no gray in anything. It's part of what makes you so good, but it's also your Achilles heel." Roy paused since he'd already made up his mind. "You leave me little choice." He hated this but if he didn't 1PP would come down on his head for not gaining and keeping control of his precinct.

"You're suspended for 2 weeks without pay. I suggest you use this time to reflect on why. Now get out." Roy was done with Kate. "As for you, Castle, you are not employed by this department so I can't actually do anything to you. But since you are Beckett's partner, you are also suspended for 2 weeks.

I don't want to see either of you in here for another 2 weeks or you'll force me to make it permanent. Get out. Both of you." Kate and by extension Castle needed to be taught a lesson. "Now would be good." Roy was done with them; both of them exited his office. He was only a little surprised that Kate didn't fight back a little harder. Though he had meant not to give her a chance.

Kate stopped at her desk to collect her things and turn off that box on her desk. She was vaguely aware that Espo was working his way toward her desk with the thin white guy right behind him.

"What'd he say?" Espo was going to let Kate tell him even if everyone on the floor had heard him.

"Two weeks," Snohbal told him and checked to make sure she had everything.

"Without pay," Rick added. "Not that that matters to me." He withered under the look Espo and Ryan gave him.

"We'll be here if you need us, Beckett." Espo wasn't sure what he could do, but he would do what she asked of him.

Snohbal simply turned and walked to the moving box. She could feel Castle right behind her.

"What have you got planned now?" Rick asked her as the elevator descended.

"I'll think of something." Mostly she'd be learning more about her new life, but she couldn't tell him that.

"You can come to the Hamptons with me. Alexis and my mother will be there. I'm sure we can find space for you." And by finding space he meant in his bed.

"No thanks, Castle. That's not a good idea." Snohbal didn't need the distraction or for him to weaken her resolve and kiss him. Kate loved him and she could _not_ kill him.

"Kate…" Rick was willing to try and get her to change her mind. Except she cut him off.

"No, Castle." She exited once the doors opened and left him in her dust as she headed outside, flagged down a yellow car, and drove off.

He stood there watching her go. "I need to do some homework myself." He thought he was 100% sure that Kate loved him. He knew this Rick loved her. "I need her address and a plan."

Two weeks in whatever this Hamptons was sounded like the perfect plan. "Hamptons… need to find out what that is, too." He had so much to do.

He flagged down a taxi himself and headed home. He planned to review a number of things and get ready for the next two weeks. Kate Beckett was coming with him. _No_ wasn't an answer.

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Rick had pulled out all the stops. It had been a long time since he had tried to woo a woman and get her to see things his way. Granted women had looked his way but for the most part he'd ignored them. Most ran the second they found out he was a hunter. Partly because it meant he would never be home. Plus living on a ship wasn't that grand.

Another was because he dealt with violence on an almost daily basis. And he did try to capture and not just kill, so his ship would have to have a place to hold them. One that was escape proof. Unfortunately now that ship was gone and he was betting it was presently being crushed and burnt to dust inside this system's sun.

Right now he was going up the elevator with his hands full. He was hoping that most women would see this as being special. The lady at the shop had congratulated him on his choices.

Rick sighed heavily and bolstered his determination. He had done a lot of work last night and had gotten lucky in that he didn't see this Rick's Alexis. He was still worried about that. If there was going to be someone that would trip him up and question who he was, it would be this Rick's daughter and mother.

He knocked on the door and waited.

Snohbal had been going over her memories of Kate. She had two weeks to be ready for her job of chasing down killers. She needed to know how to do that. "I gave her my promise and I'm keeping it." What she didn't know what to do was what to do with Rick.

She could feel Kate's love for him. Her internal conflict over how she felt. Her fears of losing him. Losing him before loving him would hurt. Losing him after she fell in love with him would kill her. "You let your fears rule you, Kate. You should have risked your heart." Snohbal was certain of that especially after she found a heartfelt letter from someone named Royce.

He seemed to know just who Kate Beckett was and what her fears were. She didn't miss that she had her own fears. It was just that hers weren't about her heart. They were about what she was. She may look like Kate Beckett but that was were it ended. She was still a succubus underneath and her kisses would drain him. Enough kisses and she would literally drain him dry.

Presently she was in the kitchen making a list. She needed to go shopping or she was going to starve. Kate Beckett apparently didn't know how to cook since this place was completely devoid of food.

Hearing a knock on her door startled her. Every interaction with people that Kate knew and that _she_ barely knew gave her butterflies. Who this could be only intensified that feeling.

Opening the door, she found Rick standing there dressed in clothes that made him look incredibly handsome. She was stunned; he was holding a massive bouquet of flowers and plants. Even worse he had a long narrow box in the other hand. Kate's memories told her just what would be in a box that looked like that. And he had a broad smile on his face.

Kate loved him and she could just feel that she would want to kiss him. Her worry was what was he here for?


	8. Chapter 8

**Doppelgänger 8**

"Castle?" Snohbal was surprised. "What… what are you doing here?" Staying away from him for two weeks suddenly seemed to be an impossibility.

"I come bearing gifts." Rick's smile widened and he held out the massive bouquet that barely fit in his hand.

She nervously took it and couldn't resist smelling the flowers. Kate's memory told her that she had smelled flowers before, just not like this. Not after having a man present them to her. It was a first for Snohbal, though, and she was loving it.

Rick didn't wait to be invited in since he was here on a mission. "I also brought you this." He held out the case. She laid the flowers down so she could take it.

"What's this?" Kate's memory gave her a hint but it didn't answer her question.

" _It's a bribe_ _,_ _"_ was what he was thinking. "Open it." He hoped it was enough.

Snohbal took it into the living room and sat down. What disturbed her a little was that Rick followed her. _"Kate loves him."_ It was a memory she couldn't shake and it conflicted her emotions. If she did what Kate would do she would likely kill him. Yet if she didn't, Kate would never forgive her. _"I'm so screwed."_

She snapped the case open to get it over with. What she saw took her breath away. If people where she was from saw it they would destroy it instantly and make whoever had it suffer until the end of time.

 _ **Angel Adjustable Pendant Necklace with Diamond Accents in Sterling Silver with 14k Gold Accent**_

 _A precious angel carries a pretty gold heart in this adjustable pendant necklace with diamond accents. Crafted of sterling silver with 14k gold accent. Approximate adjustable length: 16 to 24 inches. Approximate drop. 4/5 inch._

"It's gorgeous!" Snohbal couldn't take her eyes off of it. It was the exact opposite of her people. It was perfect.

"Here, let me put it on you." Rick held out his hand for her to give it back to him.

She couldn't resist. She handed it to him, turned her back, and lifted her hair out of the way. He let his hands skim across her shoulders and didn't miss feeling her shudder under his touch. He even brushed his hands up against the skin of her neck and heard her draw in a sharp breath. He fastened it in place and moved back a step.

She could feel it against her skin. Half of her had expected it to burn her skin since she was a demon, but it didn't. It made her feel… she couldn't put words to it. She was… happy.

Snohbal turned to look at Castle who was smiling just as widely as she was. Rick vowed to make her smile the rest of her life. It was a smile that touched his soul. It made him want to kiss her and found himself actually leaning in to do just that. She was gorgeous.

She watched him getting closer and she really did want to kiss him. Kiss the hell out of him, rip his clothes off with her claws, and fuck his brains out. Instead she raised her hand and put two fingers against his lips. "Don't, Castle." It was the exact opposite of what Kate wanted and she found it was the opposite of what she now wanted.

It confused Rick. She was smiling and even looked like an angel. This Rick loved her and he knew they'd made love to each other. So what was the problem?

She really didn't want to hurt him. She really didn't. She had promised Kate. "Why are you here, Castle?" She loved the gifts but there had to be a reason.

"I can't just give gifts to a beautiful woman?" he asked her. She looked back at him like she didn't believe a word he said.

"Fine." The truth it was then. "I came to ask you to come to the Hamptons with me. At least for this weekend. If you like it there, maybe spend the entire two weeks. I have a beach house in the Hamptons. It's right on the ocean." Rick had finished doing his homework and the house sounded like the perfect place to spend the next two weeks. Two weeks with Kate sounded even better.

"Don't say no. Do you really have plans on staying right here for two weeks? The Hamptons is more than big enough for you to get lost in. And if you want to get out of the house you can always go into town and shop. Maybe rent a boat and go fishing or something. Walk along the beach and just stop and soak up some rays. Just take a lot of sunscreen with you." He didn't want her to get burnt. "I'd be happy to apply it for you." He gave her a smile and she smirked at him.

She had to admit it did sound more fun than sitting here and doing nothing. She could go out onto the beach to get away from him and just enjoy herself.

"I'll be here at 8:00 am sharp to pick you up. Pack a bag for a weekend or two weeks. It's up to you. And if you're not here I'll get Espo and Ryan to hunt you down." Rick stood up with the intention of kissing her but restrained himself.

"It'll be great, you'll see." He walked toward the door so he could leave. He had delivered his message and while she hadn't said yes, she hadn't said no, either.

"Oh, Alexis and my mother will be there too," he told her just before he closed the door.

Hearing that, Snohbal snapped her head around to look at him. _"Alexis and his mother!"_ The only good thing she could make out of that bit of information was that at least Rick would be less likely to want sex or try and kiss her.

"Pack." She really didn't know what to do. "I promised." How ever was she going to keep that promise?

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"Where are we going?" Alexis knew the way to the Hamptons and this wasn't it.

"We're going to pick up Kate and take her with us." Rick knew it was useless to lie since stopping to get her would show anything else he said to be a lie.

"Detective Beckett… You asked her? She said yes?" Alexis wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

"We're about to find out." Rick parked near her building. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." He jogged over to her building.

"You took the keys. Do I have a choice?" Alexis said to the empty driver's seat. Her thoughts went to spending the weekend with Detective Beckett. "If she hurts you, Dad, I'll never forgive her." She made up her mind. Detective Beckett was going to get her chance. Her last chance.

Snohbal heard a knock on her door and she spun around, staring at it, her heart racing. She had made a choice and it scared her. She had been basically alone since she could remember. From her memories she knew Kate had been the same. They had both made a choice.

She was ready to collapse yet she made it to the door and opened it. Just on the other side she found Castle standing there dressed in very casual clothing. Clothing she didn't remember ever seeing him wear before.

"Castle." She couldn't do or say anything else.

"You're packed." Rick saw a pair of bags at the door. One of which was large. Big enough to last several days. "Excellent, let's get moving. I left Alexis in the car." He stepped past her and gathered up her bags. "Close and lock the door behind you," he reminded her and made his way to the elevator.

It was enough to snap her out of it and closing and locking the door behind her.

"Good morning, Detective," Alexis greeted Kate as she got in the back seat of the Mercedes while Rick put her bags in the trunk.

"Hi, Alexis." Snohbal was unsure of herself. This was going to be her first major test and so much was riding on it. Unfortunately her cell phone pinged which had her searching for it.

" _Girl, why haven't you called me?"_ The ID showed it was from Lanie.

" _Just found out you were suspended for two weeks."_ Another from Lanie.

" _Call me!"_ Yet another from Lanie.

Snohbal decided to battle on one front at a time and shoved the cell phone in the bottom of her purse.

"Something important?" Alexis inquired while still looking at her.

"No, it's nothing. Just someone wanting to know if I wanted to talk." Snohbal wasn't sure if Alexis knew about Lanie so she left her name off.

"Is there a problem at work?" Alexis questioned just as Rick slid behind the wheel.

Rick answered for her. "Kate and I were suspended for two weeks. Roy was a little mad at us."

" _Two weeks!_ You didn't tell me that." Alexis glared at her father who was concentrating on pulling out into traffic.

"I haven't seen you much until this morning," he countered since Alexis had been out of the loft mostly working on her project with the others.

Alexis wasn't happy that her father was right. He could have at least called to tell her. "Well I'm still glad to have you over the weekend." Alexis looked back at Kate before turning forward to watch where they were going.

"More like two weeks based on how much luggage she packed," Rick said.

"Two weeks!" Alexis turned to look at Kate again.

Snohbal did her best to just smile nicely and try and disappear into the back seat.

Alexis turned back around and tried to process whether she liked this turn of events. Her final determination was that she wasn't upset that Kate and her dad were staying for two weeks, even if she and her grandmother would only be there over the weekend.

She fell back to what she wished most: _"Just don't hurt him."_

"But you're staying only for the weekend, Alexis?" Almost two weeks alone with just Rick. She was worried.

"Are you ready for the weekend?" Snowball asked her hoping to get Alexis talking. Because if she was talking she wasn't asking questions. Much to Snobhal's satisfaction Alexis launched into an explanation about the project she had finished early so she could go out to the Hamptons for the weekend. Snohbal soon learned all she needed or didn't need to know about Alexis's project. It did show first hand how dedicated Alexis was to learning in school. Snohbal didn't have anywhere near that dedication.

And it did kill almost one hour of a two hour or so trip. Thank the 'verse…

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Snohbal was looking out the window when Rick drove up to the front door. She knew her mouth was hanging open but did nothing about it. This place was just too shocking. She didn't wait for anyone to open the car door for her and didn't pay any attention to Alexis who was watching her reaction and smiling.

"This is a beach house?" She looked from one end to the other and skipped right past Alexis smiling at her. "This is not a beach house, this is… Are you rich or something, Castle?" She had seen Rick's loft and while it was much larger than her place and said money, this said something else entirely.

"I'm not Patterson, but I do okay." He pulled her luggage out of the trunk and walked to the front door. Snohbal had to hustle to catch up. "Let's find you a room and then I'll give you a tour." He led her to the stairs.

"I'm going to start on lunch, Dad." Alexis left them and headed somewhere deeper inside the house.

Snohbal followed Rick and entered a side room that was bigger than her bedroom at home. He saw the look on her face. "You should see the master bedroom." In his research he'd found memories of the master bedroom along with photos of the entire house, inside and out. Even he was amazed and had to admit his mouth dropped open. And that was after just looking at the small pictures.

He was taking everything in as he gave Kate a tour of the house. They passed by Alexis who was busy at work in the kitchen. This was on their way over to a wall of French doors that led outside.

"WOW!" Snohbal was now even more impressed. It gave vindication to her decision to come out here for her two weeks' suspension. She was definitely spending as much of her time out here as she could. She wasn't looking at Rick or she would have seen the look of shock on his face as well. Even he was impressed. This Rick obviously had good taste.

He finally felt some peace, some reassurance that he'd done the right thing in agreeing to take over his life for him.

"There's a pool down this way. It's completely private." He'd seen pictures. But Snohbal started heading toward the beach, first walking over a large expanse of green grass. It was warm, not yet starting to get hot; the wind was blowing just a little and she could hear the water. The beach was just calling her name. Upon reaching it she slipped off her shoes and stepped out onto the sand. It was warm and she loved it. It felt a lot like home.

"Stand there too long and your feet will burn." Rick already knew that sand exposed in the hot sun could get hot. She turned to look at Rick then down at her feet. It felt perfect to her until she remembered she was human now. Or at least looked human. She reluctantly went back onto the grass that was much cooler.

"LUNCH!" The sound of Alexis's voice broke the moment. Snohbal walked back to the house with her shoes still in her hand and Rick next to her. She moved easily across the hot concrete patio and into the cool house letting him close the doors behind them.

Lunch turned out to be grilled chicken sandwiches, a salad, and chips. "This is pretty good." Snohbal had to admit it was better than anything she'd been able to make. Even if her attempts had been limited thus far.

"Thanks." Alexis wasn't used to be complimented by someone outside of her family.

"Isn't your mother supposed to be here somewhere?" Snohbal could swear there was someone else staying here.

"I found Grams' note on the counter. She's in town shopping. She'll probably be here in time for dinner," Alexis told them. She was a little surprised that her dad didn't make some snide remark about his mother abusing his credit card, but said nothing.

"Was Roy that mad?" Alexis was curious. Neither of them had said anything about it on the drive out.

"He yelled a lot, then threw us out of his office, followed by kicking us out of the precinct. He didn't say anything much," Rick replied.

"He said enough, Castle." Being yelled at only complicated her first day as Kate Beckett.

"He gave us a two week vacation," he pointed out.

"Except you owe Gina a few chapters don't you?" Alexis didn't want Gina mad at him. She was a pain even when she wasn't mad. She was even worse when she was mad at her dad. Though it felt like she was _always_ mad at her dad, even when they were married.

Rick knew that there was a deadline coming up. However, he didn't plan on worrying over it. Kate was here and he was going to make it the two best weeks either of them had ever had. His primary problem was he was planning on playing it by ear. So far Kate was a little more distant than he thought she should be. The memories he had gotten from this Rick suggested otherwise.

Was she regretting having had sex with Rick? If he was truthful he was looking forward to sex with her, too. To actually touch her and feel her. It had been a while for him.

"I can just stay the weekend if staying longer is going to get you in trouble," Snohbal offered.

"Not a chance." Rick countered that idea instantly. "Gina can…" He shut up since Alexis was sitting next to him.

Alexis couldn't help but stare at her dad. He had never stood up to Gina that she could remember. Actually when it came to women he went out of his way to be kind to all of them no matter how they behaved. It was one of the things about her father that she wished would change. Just a little.

"Let her yell. We have two weeks." He wasn't backing down.

Lunch was over. "I'm going to go unpack," Snohbal said then stood up.

"There should be sunscreen in your bathroom if you want to go out to the beach next. That or we can try and find Grams in town." Alexis told her.

"I'll decide while I unpack," Snohbal lied. Since the moment Alexis had said beach, she planned on changing clothes and heading for the water.

"There are beach towels in there also," Alexis called after her before Snohbal reached the stairs.

Alexis waited until Kate was gone. "Two weeks, Dad?" The weekend she could see, but two whole weeks?

"You don't like Kate?" Had something changed in what Alexis thought of Kate based on the memories he got from this Rick?

"No, it's not that. Detective Beckett's nice, she just…" Alexis didn't want to upset her father.

"Her name is Kate and finish. I want to know what you're thinking." He wanted to know what was going on in her mind.

"I know her name. It's just that she's hurt you in the past and yet you always go back. I don't understand why." If her dad wanted her to be blunt, she could do that. Especially if they were going to be alone with each other after she and her grandmother left.

Rick had to use what memories he could remember and translate them into words. "Have you never been in love? To love that person unconditionally? Not everyone's perfect. All relationships have a few bumps." He tried to understand and explain what Kate meant to him.

"But she doesn't love you back, Dad." She was starting to suspect that Kate couldn't.

"Then these next two weeks are going to be the perfect time to find out. No interference from work or anyone else." Rick didn't mean to speak so plainly to her. But Kate needed to stay. They needed to talk. Really talk.

Alexis didn't think she was anyone else. She was his daughter. But she did have to admit that being away from chasing down killers would allow them to be together and maybe at long last actually talk. "I'll try and keep an open mind. But if she hurts you…" _I'm going to hate her forever._ Alexis left off what was going through her head.

"It'll be great, you'll see," he said. He was determined to keep a positive attitude. "Help me clean up?"

Snohbal took her time unpacking and left a swimsuit on the bed. Changing into it and looking into the mirror all she saw was skin. "This might send the wrong message to Castle." She feared he would want to kiss her.

She slathered on the sunscreen she'd found. Her skin really didn't need it since it wasn't possible for her to get burnt. But she needed to behave like Kate Beckett. Bikini, towel, and sandals and she was ready to hit the beach.

She couldn't help but notice that both of them had eyes only for her as she went out the French doors. What she didn't see was Rick running for the stairs.


	9. Chapter 9

Doppelgänger 9

Kate dropped her towel on the sand, kicked off her sandals, and walked into the water. Feeling the water at her feet at first was a completely new sensation. They didn't have water like this at home. "Why do I live in a city?" She would rather live here.

She waded out farther until she was waist deep. It was as far as she was willing to go since she didn't know how to swim. She knew to hold her breath but after that she had no clue. Her memories from Kate were a bit lacking on this subject. She guessed that that was because Kate didn't get in the water much.

Snohbal gathered her courage and submerged herself, going straight down, closing her eyes tight. She only stayed underwater a moment before coming back up and let her now wet hair fall down her back. "That was different." She decided to walk around in the water a little. She found it surprising that there was resistance as she walked. It was harder to move in water than out of it. Still she was strong enough that it didn't become a problem.

Movement got her attention and she turned to watch Castle come up to her towel, leave his, and start walking toward her in the water. He was almost as naked as she was and damn, but he looked good.

" _I wish I could kiss him."_ Kate Beckett would be mad if she found that she couldn't be with Castle any longer. Maybe if she asked the right question to her book there would be a way. Some place that had something in the city that would help her.

Then he walked right up to her and she soon found herself wrapped in his arms. She couldn't resist letting her head rest against his chest. The pain of not being able to kiss him was starting to tear at her heart.

"Imagine being out here every day for the next two weeks," Rick murmured. She hummed in agreement and held her hands tight between them.

"I don't think Alexis likes me much." Snohbal hadn't failed to notice that she was a little cold to her.

"Alexis is protective. She's not sure you're the best person for me," he admitted, nuzzling her hair. "We can work at changing her mind."

"What if she's right?" Not being able to get closer might make her right.

He brushed his lips across her forehead then shook his head. "Not a chance. We've come this far, we'll figure it out."

Snohbal hoped he was right yet feared he was dead wrong. "Time to soak up some sun." She didn't want to leave his arms. It felt so nice to be in them. But she couldn't send a signal that meant he could really kiss her. A kiss on the cheek or on the forehead was acceptable and safe. Anywhere else, though… that was absolutely forbidden.

She reluctantly left him and waded back to the beach. Then she spread out her towel and lay down. Not surprisingly Rick did the same right next to her. He took a chance and sneaked his hand across the sand to reach hers and was happy when her hand squeezed closed around his.

Both of them were happy with just this for now. Rick was hoping for more while Snohbal wished she could do more.

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A phone rang in a distant place. It was going to turn out to be bad timing. "Yes," was the only word he spoke.

"They are both alive," he was informed.

At first the shock silenced his tongue. Then his anger did something he would live to regret. He threw the phone and watched it shatter, putting an end to his contact with the outside world.

A moment later he clenched his hands and choked back a scream. He'd had them killed. Not just killed, but killed and left where their bodies would be found and send a message.

With practiced skill he calmed himself and reached for a land line phone only to put it back in place. The cell phone he just destroyed or at least damaged to the point it was no longer useful had been secure. The land line phone was not.

He was presently too far away to do anything about it. Trapped, where he was watched constantly. Yes, he could go buy a burner phone and make a call. But he would be seen buying it. He needed to be able to order things with discretion. To prove that he was not involved.

He had no choice; he was forced to wait. However, that did not mean he did not plan. Did not scheme on what to do next. Did not want to see both of them dead.

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"I'm going to go change," Snohbal told Rick and went up the stairs. She'd had fun just lying in the sand, listening to the waves, holding the hand of the man Kate Beckett loved so very much.

"I hope you enjoyed it, Dad, because you're going to pay a price." Alexis grinned and went up the stairs behind Kate.

Rick had no idea what she was talking about. Shrugging, he walked up the stairs to his room. He stripped off his swim trunks and stepped into the shower after turning it on. The second the water hit his chest he screamed from the pain it caused. He stumbled out of the water and looked in the mirror. What he saw showed him what Alexis was teasing him about. His entire upper body and legs were burnt. He wasn't just pink, he was red. He let his chin fall to his chest. He hissed in pain and quickly lifted it back up.

Leaning in close to the mirror, he studied his face. Everything was burnt. His forehead, his nose, his cheeks, even his lips. Running a finger over them made him very aware of how sensitive they were now.

He could heal a wound, fix a deep slash, seal a bullet wound. Treat his burnt body. He could take care of all of that but the underlying pain would remain. Everything would remain sensitive to the touch for days.

He gingerly stepped back into the shower and gritted his teeth, huffing out a breath from the pain as he washed himself. Drying his body with a towel caused him to breathe sharply from the pain yet again.

Using his left wristband he brought forth what he would need to make a cream that he could spread over his body. It would help and reduce the time to heal but it wouldn't happen instantly.

Snohbal stripped easily and stopped at the mirror. So far as she could see, nothing had changed. Since she was alone she dropped her disguise and studied herself in the mirror. Nothing was different; she looked exactly the same.

It had actually felt nice to bake under this plane's sun. It had been nice to feel the water of this plane's ocean kiss her body, too. She relished being able to spread her wings and carefully move them before stepping into the shower.

It was Kate Beckett that stepped out of the bedroom and headed downstairs to find out what tonight would bring.

"Hi." Kate greeted Alexis who was in the kitchen pulling items out of the refrigerator.

"Detective," Alexis replied.

Kate smiled a soft smile. "My name is Kate, Alexis. You're free to use it." She looked around. "Where's your father?" She didn't see him.

"Dad's still in his room, and I do know your name. My apologies." Alexis would try and use it from now on. At least until Kate hurt her father. "Why aren't you burnt like Dad?" Kate looked perfect while her father looked like a fire engine.

Kate had to think fast since she could have stayed out there for hours, days. Weeks, if not months or even years could pass and nothing would happen. "Sunscreen."

It was an acceptable answer for Alexis. It would be just like her father to not use sunscreen either because he forgot or because he thought he wouldn't get burnt.

"So are you the cook tonight?" Kate couldn't remember if Alexis cooked for the family.

"Dad's probably lucky if he's walking. I'll bet he's wishing he didn't have to wear a shirt for the next few days. So if any of us are going to eat, I'm the cook." Besides, she'd learned to cook while helping her dad.

"Sorry." She hadn't really thought about what the sun would do to Rick.

Alexis chuckled. "Dad learned a good lesson. He's been here many times but never had any reason to be out in the sun for so long. Even when I was little we never stayed out on the beach for too long. You have no idea how many times I would come out of the water only to have my dad intercept me and coat another layer of sunscreen on me." She chuckled again at the memory.

"As much as I love it here, he was right. I burn very easily. Even today I have to be careful how long I stay outside in the sun." Alexis had learned she was never going to get the tan some of her friends could get so easily.

"I'll be more careful next time." Kate knew she would be back out there, but she would be more attentive to how long Rick stayed outside.

"So what's for dinner?" Kate was curious.

"Shrimp scampi with angel hair pasta. It's shrimp sautéed in olive oil and butter before being tossed with garlic, lemon, freshly cracked pepper, a bit of parsley, and angel hair pasta. It's light and tasty, perfect for a summer evening meal. I hope you like it." Alexis answered.

"Can I help?" Kate was willing to work. Alexis considered what Kate might be able to do. She made her decision. "You can peel the shrimp out of its shell and put them in ice water."

"Do you like it here?" Kate inquired while pulling the shrimp out of their shell and dropping them in the chilled water.

"Coming to the Hamptons is great. It offers such a change from busy city life. Places to calm down and just think, you know? When I was little it was somewhere to have fun. There are shops in town, one that makes ice cream that you can't get in the city." Alexis truly loved it here.

Kate had just finished and was washing her hands in the sink when the front door slammed. "Alexis, darling," Martha called out since Alexis was who she saw first.

"Grams!" Alexis was happy to see her and abandoned the shrimp she had in the skillet to greet her.

Martha hugged her; she loved her granddaughter fiercely. "Katherine?" Martha wasn't expecting to see her here. She left Alexis and moved to hug Kate like she was her daughter. For Kate it felt like a mother's hug. One she hadn't felt in a very long time. "You're spending the weekend with us?" Martha queried.

Alexis corrected her. "She's staying with Dad for two weeks."

" _Two weeks!"_ This should prove to be interesting. "And where is my son?" Martha turned to look at Alexis.

"Dad's still upstairs. He's recovering from being out in the sun all afternoon," Alexis explained.

"Meaning he's burnt," Martha said with amusement in her voice. Seeing him fire-engine red was going to be interesting.

"I'm afraid that it's my fault." Kate took responsibility.

"I'm sure it taught my son a lesson. It's good to have you here, Katherine." Martha gave her arm a little squeeze. "I'm going to go wash and be right back. I'm going to need a glass of wine before dinner." Martha worked better with a little alcohol in her.

Alexis already knew her grandmother was a fan of Kate's, so seeing her being kind to her wasn't a shock. "About 30 minutes, Grams." This meal was going to be quick and easy to make.

Alexis smirked when she watched her dad walking down the stairs wearing just shorts – no shoes since even his feet were burnt – and the largest shirt he had. Something that would touch as little skin as possible. It wasn't hard to tell that he was burnt.

She did her best to hide her smile. "Hi Dad."

Kate hadn't seen him and she whipped her head around. "Wow, Castle!" He really was red. It was a color that reminded her of her old home.

Rick started to raise his hand to get them to stop but doing that made his shirt brush against his skin causing a small amount of pain. He didn't want to be a baby about it; he knew this was going to be his lot for a few days.

"Yes, it hurts; are you two happy?" He thought about sitting down next to Kate but decided it would be less painful to stand.

"I'm sorry Castle." Kate just knew she was involved in this.

He began to touch her but stopped. Leaning in to kiss her cheek was also out. "I'll be fine."

Dinner was waiting when Martha finally came back downstairs dressed casually, even for her. She immediately started chuckling when she saw her son. "Is today Halloween? Why did no one tell me?" Her son was red with a little pink thrown in.

"Very funny." Rick glared at her. However, Alexis noticed that her dad left off _Mother._ But she said nothing and simply filed the information away for another time. Then it hit her – her dad had yet to call her _P_ _umpkin!_ Granted she was older now and liked being called by her name, but still… Her dad was treating her like an adult, but deep down she missed being called _Pumpkin._ It was his favorite term of endearment for her. The thought that her dad no longer loved her never entered her mind. Something was off, though. Maybe it was because Kate was here and he was sunburned.

But she also couldn't resist. "Fire engine," Alexis teased.

"Lobster," Martha piled on.

Kate added her own comment. "Demon."

"Oh ha, ha." Rick was not amused. "Next time I'm taking you two with me," he threatened.

"We know how to use sunscreen, Dad." Alexis sported a huge grin; it was such fun to razz him.

"Demon… Very nice, Katherine." Martha loved it and raised her hand up. Kate knew what to do from her memories and slapped her open palm against Martha's. They both heard Alexis chuckle.

"And just how long do you three plan on keeping this up?" He was sure he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Depends, Dad. How long are you going to look like a fire engine?" Alexis was still grinning. This was so much fun.

"Or a lobster?" Martha added.

"Or a demon?" Kate went on to say since this really was fun. She didn't miss seeing Alexis and Martha loving this little exchange, either. It told her teasing Castle was something they all did.

"All weekend," Rick moaned and didn't miss all the women in his life having fun at his expense. Well, three of the four since his own Alexis was most probably nowhere near here.

"You'll survive, Dad. Think of it as practice for what Gina will do to you if you miss your deadline."

That told him he needed to review what this Rick knew about Gina. Maybe she was going to be more trouble than he thought. _"You just had to be a writer didn't you."_

"I'll make sure he writes," Kate assured them and smiled at Castle. "You have a way to keep him in his chair? Rope… or tape, maybe?"

"Super glue!" Alexis was still enjoying this immensely and couldn't help but laugh.

"I like your thinking, darling." Martha was on board. "If we don't have any I'm sure there's somewhere in town that does." Martha had to admit that super glue was never something she had shopped for. It didn't mean it wasn't available, though.

"Are you three done yet?" Rick grumbled. He was more than ready for this to end.

All three of them answered back almost as one. "Nope."

"Since the beach is out of the question now, I guess I'm forced to write. Come find me if you need me." Rick stood up and hissed as his shirt scraped across his sensitive skin.

"We'll go into town and get you some aloe vera gel, Dad," Alexis called after him.

"Do we have to?" Martha wasn't done teasing her son.

"Grams!" Alexis admonished. She looked at the clock. "It's getting late, it'll have to wait till tomorrow. Sorry, Dad."

"A shopping trip into town while Richard asleep." Martha was all for it. It meant more shopping. "We can take Katherine with us." Martha liked this idea even more.

"Using Dad's credit card," Alexis remarked gleefully. She was in. Kate looked between these two.

"You'll love it, Katherine. Even if you don't find something you can't live without," Martha added. "I'll call the car service." They might need the space for their purchases.

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Kate had to admit that shopping with them had been fun. It had felt familiar thanks to her memories of Kate. The Snohbal part of her had been totally lost. There was so much to chose from and while she had figured out that it took money to buy things, neither Martha nor Alexis seemed all that concerned about the prices.

As a result… "This one is yours." Alexis handed Kate a bag. "And this one, and this one." Then she handed over a bag to Martha and pulled out one of her own.

Kate tried one last time knowing it was already too late. "I didn't really need all this. I brought my own clothes, you know."

"Of course you did, darling. This is the Hamptons and it's summer. You need something light to wear so you don't bake in your own clothes," Martha insisted yet again.

"Besides, Dad will have a heart attack." Some of what they had talked Kate into accepting was just a touch risqué. Alexis was willing to overlook one or two of the summer dresses that she and Martha had picked out since they had also picked out a new bikini for her to wear. After all, the bikini was going to show far more skin than either of the dresses that were now hers.

"You didn't really think you were going just to look, did you?" Martha looked at her with both eyebrows raised.

Kate had been thinking of doing just that. Looking but not buying anything. She had clothes. But then the two redheads happened.

She was now the proud owner of a white, loose-fitting sundress with spaghetti straps with heavy fringe all along the asymmetrical hem. Just the thing for a hot summer's day.

And there was the pale champagne mini dress with spaghetti straps, a plunging neckline, and gorgeous gold embroidery. It was perfect for cocktails or an evening out here in the Hamptons and was enough to turn any man's head! Rick's especially, she hoped, fervently wishing that she would find a way to finally be able to kiss him.

Then the last garment – her favorite – was a very full, flared, chiffon maxi skirt with a pleated waistline that looked like it had been painted with watercolors. It was touted as having sixty different colors in it. So beautifully feminine!


	10. Chapter 10

**Doppelgänger 10**

Kate was actually enjoying herself. She found that she had the energy to go for a jog down the beach the next morning. She got to see a few of the houses that were also next to the beach and most were at least as large if not larger than Rick's.

She slipped in through the backdoor and into the living room. "How was your run?" Alexis was in the kitchen cutting up fruit for later.

"It was nice. You didn't tell me the houses around here were all so big. The closest is actually a little ways down the beach." The Castle beach house was actually a little isolated.

"That's the Hamptons for you," Alexis smiled. "I haven't seen Dad yet and Grams is around here somewhere. Want some breakfast?" Alexis wasn't sure just what she was going to make.

"That would be nice. I need shower first, though." Kate turned and headed for the stairs.

"I'll have something ready by the time you come back down," Alexis promised.

Kate was still in love with taking a shower and letting the water fall over her. After a tough start she was starting to see the benefits of living here.

She slipped into her new, casual, summer dress that she'd bought yesterday. She initially wished she had time to find a way to strap her dagger to her leg somehow but her dress was short enough that it would show. She didn't like leaving it in her suitcase.

Back downstairs she sat next to Martha who was watching Alexis move around the kitchen. "Richard can be the laziest person when he's here." Martha had yet to see him this morning.

"Dad does have a tendency to just do nothing when he's here unless you suggest something that piques his interest. Then he sometimes goes all in and overdoes it."

"So what's the plan for today?" Kate queried. If there was nothing she might spend the day out on the beach again.

"I was thinking we could go boating," Alexis suggested.

"You have a boat?" Just how rich were they?

Alexis shook her head. "I was planning on asking the Millers if we could borrow theirs. It's more than big enough for all of us and we've borrowed it before. Plus Dad likes their boat."

They all watched Rick as he made his way to them extremely carefully. "How's the sunburn, Dad?" Alexis had had her fun yesterday. Now she was back to caring about him.

He glared at her and remained silent. "We can make a quick trip into town to find you something before going boating," she offered. "Or you can stay here out of the sun." Alexis wasn't sure what happened if you got a sunburn on top of a sunburn. If that was even possible.

"Boating sounds nice," he said agreeably since he really didn't want to be alone. Even if it did mean going back out into the sun.

Alexis made the decision. "We can go right after breakfast."

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"Here are the keys." Alexis placed them and the car's fob in Kate's hand.

Kate stopped dead and looked at the car that she had come out here in. "Why me? You know where you're going." Kate knew that Kate Beckett knew how to drive, however Snohbal absolutely did not.

"You're the cop. You're better trained in driving than I am. Besides the navigator never drives," Alexis countered. She opened the passenger door and waited for Kate to get moving again.

" _Drive! I better not kill both of us."_ Kate wasn't sure this was a good idea. She drew a deep breath, got behind the wheel, and tried to think what to do next. _"_ _A_ _djust the mirrors. SEAT BELT!_ _Put your foot on the brake. Press start._ _P_ _ut_ _it in drive, look everywhere before you press your right foot down, press the_ _pedal_ _down slowly, turn the wheel, pay attention to everything."_

At first Kate felt like she was going to collapse from fear. Not fear of killing herself. She had dealt with fear at home all her life. She just didn't want to take Alexis with her. She was starting to really care for the woman. She was young and proving to be incredibly smart.

"So what are you doing in school? Is there something you like the most?" Kate asked as she drove down a nice, simple, straight road.

Alexis looked at her. Kate had never shown this much interest in what she did or who she wanted to be before. Granted they had never really spent that much time alone together. "I haven't decided yet. I'm beginning to fear that I'll be good at everything but not excellent in anything. I've been trying all my life to challenge myself. To learn something new. Broaden my horizons. I just can't seem to decide on any one thing." College was coming up and she needed to decide on a major.

"Choose those things that you like most and pursue those. Once you've done that you'll be better able to decide," Kate advised.

That had Alexis looking at her too long. She almost missed the turnoff and had to tell Kate to turn quickly. She went back to being a navigator.

*\/X\/*

"Think we've got enough?" Kate didn't believe all the creams they were coming home with. She thought they were after just one thing.

Alexis chuckled wryly. "I guess I'm my father's daughter. Dad has a habit of overdoing some things." She searched the bag in her lap just to make sure before they got too far from the town. There were three different creams for sunburns, each from a different manufacturer. A new bottle of sunscreen that had the highest SPF they could find. They even had a sunscreen that was a spray and one that said that it didn't wash off with water.

"Has your father always been this susceptible to burning?" Kate didn't remember him being like this. Though she knew Kate Beckett had never been here before.

Alexis smiled. "Some of this is for me. I don't want to spend the entire time below deck, out of the sun. I'm the one that's going to get burnt. Me or Grams. Something about redheads in my family."

"Is your mother a redhead?" Kate couldn't remember if Kate Beckett had ever met her.

Her question actually made Alexis laugh. "When I was little Dad was trying to get my mom to spend time with me and actually be a mother. We flew to California one time and I was being a brat. I wanted her to take me to the beach. _IT WAS CALIFORNIA._ They had beaches, for god's sake. Anyway, she finally relented and we stayed for hours. I got so burnt that I cried all night. Dad even took me to an emergency room to have my skin looked at."

"That sounds awful." Kate didn't ever want Alexis to end up that burnt. "What's this got to do with your mother?" How did they get off her mother and onto her?

"Mom's a redhead, too and she was burnt worse than I was. She demanded that my dad take her to the hospital, as well. She yelled at the doctors, at the nurses, at anyone within earshot that wouldn't or couldn't take her sunburn away instantly. Like right now.

No one was going to hire an actress that was THAT red, only to start peeling and be nothing but pink for weeks. She was so angry." Alexis was still chuckling over the memory.

"That sounds terrible." Kate didn't really understand sunburns; her chance of getting one was nil.

"That was the day that I finally understood that my mother wasn't ever going to be there for me. She yelled at Dad that her having to go to the beach with me was all his fault. That her sunburn was all his fault. That her chances of landing some acting job was never going to happen now and it was all his fault." Alexis wasn't chuckling anymore.

"I'm so sorry." Snohbal hadn't had much of a mother either and she knew that Kate Beckett had lost hers.

Alexis shrugged. "It's okay, I've come to terms with my mother. Besides, I have Dad. He's been great. He's been my best friend all my life. He's always been there for me and tried his best to make sure I was happy. Even if he is the child in this family sometimes. Well… maybe all the time." She laughed again. "I mean, he can be a handful sometimes, but at the same time he brings fun into your life. If you can get past part of him… He means well." Was Kate listening to her? If she wasn't she was likely to never see her again.

"Your father can be a real handful sometimes. Most times," Kate was willing to admit based on Kate Beckett's memories of him.

"Yet you're out here for two weeks, long after Grams and I are gone." That had to count for something.

Kate smiled softly. "Yeah, I am." She still didn't know if being here was something she was going to regret. However she had promised. And Kate Beckett had loved him. Snohbal wanted to see if she could, too, provided she could kiss him.

"I'm going to go check on the boat and verify that it's available. Dad's all yours." Alexis handed her the bag filled with their sunscreen and sunburn relief creams and left.

*\/X\/*

Kate had to admit that driving into town had been scary. The drive back to the house wasn't that bad. She walked inside where she found Castle sitting at the kitchen counter drinking an iced coffee.

"Here you go, Castle." She dropped the bag on the counter next to him. "How are you feeling?"

"It hurts every time I move, every time I even breathe," Rick whined like a little kid.

"Let's get your shirt off and see if any of these help. Come on, off with it." Kate fished out one of the tubes that they had gotten for sunburns.

"I knew you'd want me naked eventually, Beckett." Rick smiled broadly. "Where's Alexis?" His mother was outside so with a little luck he could strip completely.

"Just the shirt, Castle." Kate rolled her eyes. _"You can get naked later… maybe,"_ she thought.

She put up with him hissing with every movement he made till his shirt was off. "You really are red, Rick." At least he wasn't orange like some of the more powerful denizens of her old world. "Now hold still."

Kate squirted out a large amount of cream, rubbed it between her hands, and put both of them on Castle's back. He immediately yelped like a little boy. She yanked her hands away the second he made a distressed sound. "Now what's wrong?"

"It's cold!" Rick moaned.

"Hold still, you big baby." Kate put her hands back on his back and started spreading the cream around.

She'd used up a good portion of the tube and was halfway done with his chest and stomach. "Feeling better?" she asked since Rick had started smiling.

"I'm starting to see the benefits of having a sunburn with you around to help me." He could just as easily put the cream on his own chest and stomach, but he liked having Kate's hands running over his body.

She hadn't paid any attention to the sensuality of what she had been doing. Until now.… Now as she ran her hands over his chest she was actually aware of what she was feeling as she did it.

Both of them missed hearing the back door open and seeing Martha step inside from the back patio. She stopped when she spotted her half-naked son standing there with Katherine running her hands all over his chest.

Martha sent a small prayer to the heavens. _"Please don't chase her away_ _,_ _son. For once in your life recognize that Katherine is someone special_ _, that she's_ _not Meredith or Gina. Katherine is so much more."_ She knew that neither of his ex-wives would be doing what Kate was presently doing for him. For what Martha saw happening was love.

"Are you two about ready to go boating?" Martha had come indoors to get ready herself. It made her even happier that neither of them jumped apart. Katherine simply kept on running her hands over her son's body.

"Mr. Demon here will be after I get done slathering on some of the new sunscreen Alexis and I went into town to get. Will this trip involve fishing?" Kate had a memory of Kate learning to fish from her father.

"It can if you want. We just need to add fishing poles before we head out," Rick assured her.

"I'm going to go get changed and get a few things together. You two might want to change and decide what we're going to eat." Martha headed for the stairs. "And don't forget the wine this time." Martha was still a little annoyed with her son over the last time.

Kate was just coming down the stairs dressed a pair of shorts, a tank top, and a pair of sandals while carrying one of her summer dresses, towel, a bikini, and a bottle of sunscreen that she really didn't need. She saw Alexis enter the house. "You're back. Are we all set?"

"He's taking the boat over to the marina's pump to fill it with fuel. I just need to change and gather the supplies we need for food and whatever," Alexis responded and starts to move past Kate to get to her room.

"Can we fish?" Kate called after her.

"We can after I make a phone call." Alexis took out her cell phone.

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Kate was walking with Martha; Alexis was way out in front with Castle a little behind her. Kate's head was on a swivel as she took in the surroundings. This place was packed with boats of almost all sizes and shapes. Most were a little larger than she thought a boat should be.

Watching Alexis suddenly turn told her they didn't have much further to go. "Richard isn't really a sailor so he doesn't think much about getting his own boat. Not that neither of them don't know how to swim. Now that Alexis is older she can actually keep up with him in the pool and sometimes beat him," Martha shared with her.

Kate wasn't sure what to think of it all. Part of her was excited and part of her was just in awe. Her world didn't have anywhere near this much water.

She'd learned that each layer of the Abyss was different. Some were hot as hell or hotter. Some were frozen, while others… well, it sounded as though in some of the others she wouldn't even be able to breathe there. She was glad she had escaped even if this world wasn't what she had been expecting.

Kate stopped when she saw where Martha was going and her jaw dropped. "This is _not_ a boat, Martha." They were toward the end of a long wooden walkway and the boats along the way hadn't been anywhere near this size. She did see a couple in the distance that looked to be almost as big as the house she was staying in. _"How does something even this big even float?"_

Martha called to her and snapped her out of it. "Let's get settled, Katherine, and let Richard and Alexis tend to everything." She led her below deck. "You can use this room, I think. If the sheets feel or smell old, take them off and we can wash them before tonight." Martha smiled then went to the door just down the hall.

"Wash?" This boat had a way to wash clothes? "Tonight?!" She was under the assumption that they were going to go out and then come back. Not stay out. She hadn't brought that much with her.

The room was nice enough. A fair amount of wood, a good-sized bed, a place to hang her clothes and drawers in which to put others. The room had two narrow beds, one above the other. She pulled the comforter back to expose the sheets of the lower bed and soon found herself pulling the sheets off. They were certainly soft enough, a lot like the sheets in the room at the house she was sleeping in. It was just that these sheets didn't smell the same.

Martha came out wearing something different while Kate hadn't yet changed into anything. "Give me those, Katherine." Martha took the sheets from her and held them out in front of her after giving them a quick sniff.

Kate turned around and went back into her room to change into a bikini and a sarong. When she came back out she went for an unguided tour.

While she was walking she saw Rick and Alexis untying them from the dock as well as pulling in these big white things that were on the side of the boat.

Kate found herself up as high as she could get and was soon joined by Alexis. "Dad said he wanted to change so we get to take her out." Kate watched her get ready and soon heard the engines and a moment later they slowly pulled away from the dock. "Have a seat." Alexis patted the armrest of the white seat next to hers.

"What kind of boat is this? I mean it's kind of big."

"There are other boats that are more like ships that are in the area. This marina isn't really meant for boats that big. This is a 1986 Hatteras Long Range Cruiser. It has 4 staterooms, 3 heads – that's bathrooms, a dinette in the pilothouse with a large pass-thru to the galley, and an extended deckhouse floor plan allowing for inclusion of the enclosed aft-deck as part of the saloon. Have you seen everything yet?" Alexis didn't have time to give her a tour. Maybe Grams could or her dad.

"I walked my way around from my room that has two beds. Saw the kitchen which is tiny compared to the one in the house. Found two sets of stairs, one was circular. It looks nice." Kate had seen wood, stone countertops in the kitchen, carpet on most of the floors.

"Don't feel bad. Except for the master bedroom that Dad uses, all of the others have twin beds. Two of the rooms have bunk beds like yours, while one that Grams uses has twin size beds side by side. She didn't like the idea of there being a bed above her and wasn't willing to climb up to the upper bunk." Alexis shrugged. "It works."

"I saw you and Castle carrying something between you." Kate couldn't think of the name for it.

"The cooler. It has all our food inside it. Hopefully either Dad or Grams is emptying it into the refrigerator. You want to try?" Alexis motioned to the large wheel that was in front of her. "We're barely moving since the marina has a speed restriction."

Kate raised her hands in surrender. "I'll leave it to you."

They hadn't even made it out into the ocean when Martha joined them. "I put Richard to work," she informed them which was code for he was stuck filling the refrigerator. "I've also got him making our first batch of lemonade," she added.

"When we get far enough out we can start on lunch," Alexis remarked, watching where they were going very carefully.

"Fish for dinner?" Kate asked hopefully since she wanted to experience fishing personally, not just remembering it in Kate's memories.


	11. Chapter 11

**Doppelgänger 11**

Kate wasn't sure this was fun, but it was certainly new. She had drawn in her line to find her bait gone three times already. "I think I'm feeding the fish instead of me." She baited her hook… again.

"It might be Andy's bait," Rick said just as he got a nibble, followed by another and another. Pulling in his line he found all of his bait gone. "You might be right, though." He held up his naked hook and Kate burst out laughing. She threw her line back out into the water and waited.

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"So what's for dinner?" Kate asked, sitting at the table that had a bench on three sides.

"Spaghetti with marinara sauce and meatballs." It was one of the few meals Rick knew how to make. "The sauce is mostly home made. I found a can of tomatoes in the cabinet."

"We tried." Alexis sat down next to her and watched her father cook a different dinner that didn't involve fresh fish.

Martha stuck a spoon into the sauce and tasted it. "It needs something," she announced and picked up the salt shaker. She was all set to empty it into the sauce when Rick caught her arm.

"The spices are over there." He pointed to a cabinet, took the salt from her and set it down.

"I think Dad gets his overdoing it from Grams. She was probably going to dump the whole thing into his sauce," Alexis explained.

"If a little is good, then even more is better," Kate said softly.

"Too much of a good thing…" Alexis continued.

"Would be paradise," Kate smiled.

"A fantasy world," Alexis added.

"A place we are all trying to achieve." Kate knew she was reaching for it.

Alexis looked at Kate as she watched Rick help Martha select spices to add to the sauce.

" _I think I approve_ _, D_ _ad, just don't let her hurt you."_ Alexis still had one reservation about Kate Beckett.

Kate felt really good about their little trip out into the ocean. She had gotten to fish but didn't understand the appeal. Though maybe it didn't help that they hadn't caught anything.

Right now she was watching Alexis pilot the boat into its berth in the marina. She knew Castle was dropping those bumpers over the side so that the side of the boat didn't get scratched. She was doing fine when suddenly a vision took over.

She was watching a strange man come into her apartment. He quickly pulled out a weapon and carefully began searching her home. He had been out of sight for a little while in her bedroom. But he came back empty-handed which told her he wasn't a thief. Then she watched him move around the living room and kitchen until he decided on a location.

" _What is he doing?"_ Kate didn't understand, though Kate Beckett's memory gave her an idea of what he was doing. _"Why is he planting those?"_ She searched Kate Beckett's memories.

She had no NYPD cases either pending or closed that came to mind that would result in this. Kate took a guess. _"_ _It has to have something to do with Kate Beckett's_ _mom's case."_ It was, after all, something that Kate could tell that Kate Beckett was obsessed about. _"But why now?"_

"Kate… KATE!" Hearing Alexis's voice brought Kate out of it.

"Sorry, I spaced out for a second," Kate apologized as she watched him leave. Her little crystal parrot was doing his job. It was obvious that someone was interested in her. At least she wasn't going to be home for another week and a half.

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Kate was dressed in one of her new sundresses – one she'd bought for herself, not the sexy white one the redheads had bought – since today Alexis and Martha would be going home, leaving her alone with Rick. So far he'd kept his distance and hadn't put much pressure on her to kiss him. However, that was likely to change.

Kate found Alexis downstairs already and noticed her bag was near the door. "Leaving so early?" Kate sat down at the counter and popped a chunk of watermelon in her mouth.

"Grams informed me last night that she had forgotten that she had something just after lunch today so we're leaving a little sooner than originally planned."

"I'll talk to Dad about trying to give you some space after we're gone." Alexis hadn't failed to notice that Kate had spent most of her time with her. And truth be told Alexis had liked that. It told her that Kate was interested in her.

"I'm sure I can handle your father." Kate had a little more faith than Alexis apparently did. _"I'll kick his ass if I have to."_ Kate had noticed that she was now a little stronger than Kate Beckett had been based on her memories of what Kate had been able to do.

*\/X\/*

Kate was standing next to Rick, waving as Alexis and Martha left in a town car that had come to pick them up and take them both back into the city. She thought about what Alexis and even Martha had said to her while they were here.

"What now, Castle?" It was just them at this point.

"We could run naked through the house since it's just us." Rick grinned at her.

"You run naked, I'll just watch," Kate countered dryly. "I'm going to go change and go out to the beach. YOU need to go write. Alexis told me you have a deadline and haven't written a thing since we got here." She patted his arm and went inside.

"Writing." Rick looked up at the sky after Kate was inside. He'd been avoiding it since he knew nothing about writing. He'd learned, though, that writing was how this Rick had so much money.

He hadn't seen Kate since he had gone into his den to attempt to write something. And he'd missed seeing her dressed in a bikini again. Only this time she had a bag with her that held a few items.

She loved the feeling of the heat on her body. It wasn't nearly as hot as home so that made her love it all the more. It was… comfortable.

Kate's eyes sprang open. She had fallen asleep and was a little disoriented at first. The sun wasn't where she remembered it being. She wondered how long she had been asleep.

Since Rick hadn't come outside to pester her she reached into her bag and pulled out one of her books thinking that she had time. She started turning pages until she found a page that she could read.

This prophecy seemed to be talking about children. "Why do they make these things so cryptic?" It was like it was a code in addition to a prophecy.

She turned pages until she found another one she could read. She flipped ahead to see the next one and the next. Her eyes widened; it looked like the next few were ones she could read.

She read and reread the first one. "Something about a linchpin being killed. What's a linchpin?" She turned to the next one.

Yet again she read and reread it. "I think it talks about… a love gone bad?" She wasn't sure. She sighed. "These things are impossible!"

Still she turned to the next one and read it followed by, of course, rereading it. "A love dies? No… a love _changes._ Changes to what?" Kate turned to the next page, now a little more upset than when she had started.

Reading and rereading the next one. "Murder… Hunted? Wait, more hunted to murder."

"What are you reading?" Castle's voice startled her and she slammed the book closed.

"You write, I read," Kate replied disingenuously.

"May I see? I'm curious as to what Kate Beckett reads." It might give him insight into her.

"Sure." She decided to risk it and opened the book to a page that she couldn't read.

 _At forty-five degrees, the sky will burn,_

 _Fire approaches the great new city,_

 _Immediately a huge, scattered flame leaps up_

 _When they want to have verification from the Norman._

"You read prophecies. I'm impressed, Kate."

She jerked her head around to look at him. _"He can read this?!"_ She couldn't read a word of it. Kate challenged him. "Okay, what does it mean?"

Rick read it again and tried to puzzle it out. "Well forty-five degrees refers to New York. _The sky will burn_ might mean death or a number of deaths. _Fire approaches the great new city_ might mean someone's returning. Maybe someone was out of the city and he's returning. _Immediately a huge, scattered flame leaps up_ would suggest that he has power and intends to use it. _When they want to have verification from the Norman._ Maybe something about Norman being the man with the power. Whoever Norman is. You actually read these?" He was having a hard time believing it.

"They _are_ a challenge to understand. Besides maybe one of these has me in it." Since the book was from her world it might have magic associated with it. So who knew?

"And Kate Beckett loves a challenge." Rick liked learning something about her. "Well you've missed lunch, so would you be interested in helping me with an early dinner?" He wanted to get her off the beach and him out of the sun.

"Sure." Kate stuffed her book into her bag and stood up to follow Rick inside.

He questioned himself, wondering how Kate could read that since it wasn't written in English. Actually until he could gain access to one of his units even he didn't know what the language was, only that his contacts had translated what was written for him.

"You slice the vegetables and I'll slice the chicken for the wok, okay?" He glanced at her and gave free rein to his curiosity. "When did you start reading prophecies?"

She decided to tell him mostly the truth. "Today, actually. I only got the book a short time before I came here. Most of it makes no sense."

"And you can read all that?" Rick asked. Whatever she answered would tell him something.

"Some of it, though some of it I can't," Kate admitted and kept slicing. _"How could you read what I couldn't? And what language was that?"_

She changed the topic, focusing on his sunburn. "How's the sunburn?"

"Still painful. That cream kind of helps but not a whole lot." He wished he could take his shirt off. "I might want to change into some swim trunks later to get rid of this shirt."

"If you want I can apply some more cream to your burns," Kate offered. She really did want to run her hands over his body.

"That would be nice, thanks." Rick was only too willing to let her run her hands over him. Maybe it would lead to something else now that Alexis and his mother were gone.

Being a writer that had a deadline had been a small blessing. It meant he hadn't had to interact with his mother or his daughter the entire weekend. It was hard being someone you weren't.

Dinner was quiet and it was grating on both of them. "Kate, have I done something? Not done something?" His memories of this Rick indicated that Kate shouldn't be avoiding him like she had been. Even now when they were alone she was being quiet.

"NO! No, Rick, you've been great. I just… it's hard to explain." Impossible was more like it. "Can we take it slow? I need some time." Time to find a way to kiss him and not kill him.

"We can go at any speed you want. But…" There was something from his memories that was warning him. "Promise me that you won't run. Let me help you figure it out." He felt he was pushing it somehow. But if she ran he might not be able to win her over.

Kate could feel from her memories that running was just what Kate Beckett wanted to do. Except she had stopped and made love to him. She loved him. She needed time to figure out all these memories.

"You drove us here. Where am I going to go?" She needed an answer before they left. She just didn't know how she was going to get one.

A week and a half. He had a week and a half to win her over. "I can do that." A week and a half to woo Kate Beckett all over again. Or for first time in his case.

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Rick had gotten up really early and had driven a short distance to get the local paper. Now he was sitting at the kitchen counter going through just one certain section of it. Pen in hand, he circled three possible contenders. "Morning," Kate yawned and sat down next to him.

He actually jumped since she had surprised him. He was so focused on trying to come up with a plan that he never heard her. "Morning. Breakfast?" It would be up to him now to cook he was guessing.

"Toast and juice would be nice, thanks." She wasn't really that hungry. This family appeared to eat a lot even if Alexis and Martha looked overly thin, much like herself.

"Toast and juice it is." Rick got up and moved around to start work on her order.

"What's this?" Kate took over the paper.

"I was thinking of taking you to a movie. See anything that interests you?" He started spreading jelly on her piece of toast.

Kate couldn't help but notice he had already selected three options. She looked over his choices. A couple of them didn't sound like something she would be interested in. She did have to search Kate's memories to understand what a movie was.

"This one?" She spun the paper so he could read it and put her finger down on her selection.

" _Limitless."_ With the help of a mysterious pill that enables the user to access 100 percent of his brain abilities, a struggling writer becomes a financial wizard, but it also puts him in a new world with lots of dangers.

"An interesting choice. Any particular reason?" Rick was curious.

"You're a writer, he's a writer. Maybe you'll learn something," Kate teased.

Actually he'd hoped for one of the others since it looked like it would have more action. _"Limitless_ it is. What times does it say it starts?"

She looked closer. "12:15 is the first."

"That works. We can stay in town and maybe have an early dinner before coming home. Or we can stay and find something else to do." That meant he wouldn't have to cook and show that he had limited skills at cooking.

"Sounds nice. I'll be out on the beach when you're ready to go. Come get me a little early so I can shower first." Kate washed her last bite of toast down with her juice.

Rick watched every move as she walked away wearing some kind of sleep shirt that showed a lot of leg. "No wonder you love her."

He saw her come back down dressed in one of her bikinis. He wished he could kiss her or make love to her, but she wanted to slow things down. This Rick's memories had shown that they hadn't dated much, if at all, so he could see why she would want to take it slow.

"You could try the pool instead this time," Rick called and immediately thought that if she did, he could join her since there was at least some shade around it.

Instead he watched her walk out onto the grass and head for the beach. It meant he was left to himself until a little before their movie. "Our first date!" He scrambled for an idea of what to get her for their first date.

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He was finally home and had bought a new burner phone along the way. Now he just needed a moment alone to make a call and provide the new number. He was still a little angry that he hadn't shown more restraint. He prided himself on his control and he had lost it.

It took four rings before he answered. "Where are they now?" he demanded.

"They are both at his home in the Hamptons. Roughly two hours outside of the city. It is believed that his daughter and mother left the location this morning."

"Why do you think those two have left? Do you have eyes on the house?" He needed information. Knowledge was power.

"A car service was called and our contact says that she has been suspended for two weeks. Staying with him at his house for two weeks is a very likely answer. Since the daughter has school tomorrow it's probable that his mother is returning with her."

"I want confirmation that those two are gone. I will make arrangements. Call me at this number when you have the information." He ended the call only to call another number.

"I need you at his property in the Hamptons as soon as possible. Watch them and decide on when and how to kill both of them. Your usual payment applies." He ended the call.

Being in the Hamptons, in all probability, would mean a less than thorough investigation by the local authorities. Also relaxing out in the Hamptons would mean that their defenses would be down making it easier for his man to kill them.

Certainly by the end of the week he would finally be rid of the threat posed by Detective Kate Beckett. He had plans for his future and he didn't need her investigating anything in which he was involved.


	12. Chapter 12

**Doppelgänger 12**

Kate had enjoyed their little date. True to Rick's suggestion they had gone window shopping after their movie and then had stayed in town to have dinner. She had really wanted to kiss him, yet she hadn't come up with a plan where her kisses wouldn't hurt him. Fortunately Castle hadn't tried to kiss her.

It didn't stop her from pressing herself into his chest and letting him hug her. It felt so good that she really didn't want to leave him.

She came downstairs already dressed for her morning run but didn't find Castle in the kitchen. She took a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and headed for the beach to get started.

Rick had just reached the stairs when he heard her close the door. He hustled downstairs to see her running toward the beach. He thought that she'd be gone for at least an hour so he summoned his machine. He was going to connect to Rick's memories to try and find out why Kate wanted to go slow after they had made love to each other.

What Kate didn't see was the man dressed in beachwear but not actually on the beach watching her leave and following her with his eyes as she ran. He watched the house while she got farther and farther out.

"She takes a morning run leaving him inside." He took out an 8-1/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper that had a floor plan on it. _"Question_ _:_ _where does he go while she is gone?"_ He looked over the floor plan. "If he sleeps in, master bedroom. If he starts writing, likely this room. If he's the cook he would be in the kitchen just as she steps inside. She would be upstairs in the shower."

That gave him his best scenario. Kill him in the kitchen and wait for her to come downstairs after taking a shower where he'll kill her. A quick look told him that she was far away which meant he had to wait for her to come back. It gave him time to move to a blind spot where any neighbors couldn't possibly spot him yet allow him to see her come home.

Rick took the time to go into the office and look at what he had written so far since coming out here. After a quick study of it he opened a new page and started all over again. "How do you do this?" He didn't have the touch that much was obvious. It did give him an idea, though. He placed the unit on the desk, attached the terminal to his temple, grimacing at the pain. Then he put his fingers on the keyboard and tried not to think of anything himself.

Kate was breathing heavily as she made it to the back door. Her run had gone well and she actually felt better after each time she did it. Stepping inside she didn't see Castle. Kate called out to tell him she was back. Surely he was out of bed by now.

She didn't see him so she went to his office thinking maybe he was writing like he should be. She didn't want this Gina to get in the way. She stopped at the doorway and saw him sitting there staring out into space yet he was typing. As strange as she thought that was he had a wire leading to the side of his head that was connected to something sitting on the desk.

She stood there trying to figure it out. _"_ _Is he_ _listening to something_ _?_ _"_ Kate tried to understand itsince it looked to be attached to his head and not in his ear. _"What is he doing?"_

Kate searched the memories Kate Beckett had given her. However, after just a couple of minutes she had nothing. He was clearly typing like he was supposed to be. She watched him for another minute and nothing changed.

She was stinky and sweaty and needed a shower so she left him to whatever he was doing. "I don't get it." It didn't make sense to her. She thought about it on the way to her room to strip for her shower, trying to understand it but without any luck.

Rick was lost and nothing around him registered. But something flashing got through to him. He blinked and stopped typing. It took him a moment to understand what was going on. Seeing the warning in one eye, he yanked off the terminal; he flinched at the pain, then quickly stood.

Using his left wristband he pulled up another device and used it to scan the whole house. He swept the device around. _"Kate_ _'_ _s in her room,_ _so_ _who are you?"_ Rick saw him by the back door, moving toward the kitchen. _"You're armed, interesting."_ His weapon was simple though the barrel was a little long.

Being a hunter had its advantages so Rick knew just what to do. He stepped just this side of the edge of the office doorway, pulled out his weapon of choice, and let it scan the intruder.

As much as Rick would love to question him, he was betting he was a pro. To treat him otherwise would be underestimating his opponent and doing something that stupid might get him killed.

Using his right wristband he summoned his weapon of choice and started loading it with ammunition. He pointed his weapon where he knew the intruder was and waited a fraction of a second for the scanner to transfer the location to the round and fired. His round knew exactly where to go and adjusted its fins to change its direction. The target was his forehead. Rick had chosen it to keep the possibility of blood splatter down.

His target never saw a thing; he did feel pain for a fraction of a second then fell to the floor. Rick watched it all on his scanner then used it to search the house once more. Seeing no one else, he moved out of the office doorway and ran into the kitchen.

Once there he retracted both his scanner and his weapon. He knelt and started searching him. His weapon was first. "Their idea of a silencer I'm guessing." Rick put it inside his right wristband. "Primitive." He was not impressed since all of his weapons were silenced and it didn't affect the length of the barrel.

A few short moments later he had everything off the body, including its clothing and shoes, and had placed everything inside his left wristband. He would study it all later. First he had to get rid of the corpse before Kate came downstairs. He withdrew a vial from his left wristband and poured it over the body. In only seconds it was gone; all that remained was a small amount of water on the floor. He had that cleaned up in no time.

Rick was thinking of retreating to his office to study what the man had had on him when Kate came downstairs dressed in only a bikini and carrying a towel. "No breakfast? Should I go back upstairs and change so we can go into town to eat?" she asked.

"NO!" He definitely didn't want her to put on more clothes. He liked her just as she was. "I mean just give me a little time and I'll have something for you. Have a seat." He patted a chair, moved farther into the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator. "Big breakfast this time or something simple?"

"Surprise me," Kate said with a smile. She actually was a little hungry after her run. Rick turned on the coffeemaker and got busy cooking.

"Tea, please." She felt like drinking something else this morning.

"Coffee for me, tea for the lady. Hot tea or cold?"

"Cold, please. If you don't mind I can take it with me out to the pool." She had decided to try the pool they'd kept talking about all weekend. "Dammit, I forgot my bag." She got up, ran upstairs, came back down, and dropped the bag onto the stool next to her.

Rick had his back turned to her most of the time but couldn't resist turning to look at her. He couldn't refrain from looking between her eyes and her breasts which were only hidden by a small amount of cloth.

"Breakfast for the lady." He set her plate on the counter in front of her with a flourish, then added a small glass of juice and a larger glass of iced tea. "Enjoy." He started to leave the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" He didn't want to join her?

"I need to shower then change into swim trunks. I plan on joining you in the pool." Kate made for a very good distraction instead of trying to find out who their uninvited guest was. She was a cop but something told him not to tell her just yet. Not until he had more information.

That made her both happy and worried. She had yet to come up with a plan on how not to hurt him when she kissed him.

Kate was floating in the pool and enjoying it when something caused her to open her eyes. She watched as Castle came poolside wearing nothing but his swim trunks. She really did like what she saw. He dropped his towel and jumped in, swamping her with a wave of water. "CASTLE!" He could have found a better way to enter the water. He surfaced right next to her.

"You look gorgeous when wet." Rick looked directly into her eyes.

"You're not so bad yourself." She was losing herself in his eyes. She could see his lips getting closer and closer and so wanted to kiss him. Kate gently touched her fingers to his lips. "Please don't. I don't want to hurt you." She could feel the start of tears.

"I don't understand." He really didn't. Not what he knew or what this world's Rick knew.

"I know you don't and I'm sorry. I do want to kiss you, I really do… And I'm sorry." Kate struggled to reach the edge of the pool and climbed out. From there she ran to her room leaving behind her bag.

Rick was quite perplexed as to what was going on. None of it made any sense – not between what she was doing and what his memories told him. He wondered if their uninvited guest had anything to do with it.

Kate crashed onto her bed after slamming the door closed. Kate Beckett loved him, really loved him and _she_ couldn't even kiss him. It wasn't fair, so not fair. She was lying face down and crying into her pillow. Kate Beckett loved him and her memories told her that she loved him. She really did want to love him. She wanted someone in her life and Kate Beckett had let him in.

She didn't know how long it had been but her tears were gone. She had an idea. She searched her suitcase and pulled out her book. Kate hesitated. What if the book had an answer? But what if it didn't?

Kate asked her question, her heart pounding. She wanted an answer and yet she also feared it. "Where is there a way that I can kiss Castle and not drain him of his life?"

A section inside the book started glowing and she turned the pages as fast as she could. There was an answer!

What she turned to wasn't anyplace she had seen in the book before. And what she saw was amazing. It was a row of houses along a beach with an ocean beyond. One of the houses look really familiar. "Where is this?" she inquired and watched a word start to form.

 _THE HAMPTONS_

"Here! The answer's here?" It wasn't possible, simply not possible. "Where, show me exactly where." Did she have to search the entire house? All she got was the glow of the house. "NO! Please show me where. I need to know where!" If she found it she could kiss Rick. She could love him. Love him like Kate Beckett had loved him. She had promised and she needed to keep this life.

Still all she got was the glow of the house. This house. "But it's here, it's here somewhere." She had roughly a week and a half to find it.

She pulled out another book, the one with the crystal figures inside it. None of them would take her to what she needed but the Crystal Owl could be used to keep an eye on the house. Maybe it would see it, if she could just recognize what it was. Kate went out onto the small balcony to activate and release him. She even pointed to the highest place she could see that would overlook most of the house except the back.

Meanwhile Rick was still in the pool. He'd come out here with the intention of using Kate's sunscreen since he was still red. So he got up and out of the pool, searching her bag for the tube of sunscreen.

He stuck his hand in the bag and felt something that shocked him – a knife. Why did she have a knife? Then he took it out. "What in the world…" He held it up to look at. It was a knife unlike any other he had ever seen. The handle looked to be made of gold and the blade appeared to be one solid ruby that had been knapped like obsidian or flint to be the blade.

"What are you?" He pulled a scanner out of his left wristband and scanned it.

"Solid 18K gold, correction it is hollow. The blade is a single ruby." The size of the ruby alone was amazing. He knew worlds where this thing was worth enough to buy an entire planet.

"Hollow." He looked it over and scanned the ruby pommel on the end of the handle. "How do you get this thing open?" He began trying to figure out how to remove the smaller ruby.

He raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. He just couldn't find a way to remove the ruby without destroying that part of the knife. "How and why do you have this thing?" Rick was now extremely curious. Curious as to what this was and why Kate had it.

"Did she steal it and that's why we had an uninvited visitor? But why did he come armed and ready to kill? A silencer on this world might mean professional. Those types are hired by someone… So who sent him and why?" He was full of questions and somehow Kate seemed to be involved.

He wondered what to do now.

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There was a man far away who was staring at his burner phone willing it to ring. He needed information. The man he had sent was supposed to be good. But was he good enough to take out one cop and her writer friend? It was getting late and he had to make a decision without his phone call.

He had underestimated both her and her writer twice now. Doing so a third time was not an option.

He hated spending the money but he had plans and he just had to sell a little more than normal to make up the difference. Or maybe get a deal on something else.

He was still mad that the contractor he'd hired to find out what they both knew and then kill them hadn't done his job. Worse yet, he had disappeared and that just couldn't happen.

He dialed a number. "Put out a contract on Hal Lockwood. He's most likely no longer in New York and since he's smart enough he'll have changed his name. Make it $500,000.

Next have Maddox assemble a team, get them out to the Hamptons, and kill both of them. This time get rid of the bodies. Make sure no one ever finds them. Offer him double his normal amount. Dump them out to sea or burn them when he burns the house down." He ended the call.

He couldn't believe any of this. There was only one person who was still involved at all. He dialed his phone again. "Pick up Roy's family and take them somewhere safe." He wanted to have a little talk with them. Roy might have thought he had something, but now it was time to clean the mess up.

He made another phone call. "Get someone to gather a team and have Roy meet them. He has a choice – either give me the papers he has or lose his family." He hung up the phone.

One way or another he was ending all of his problems this week. He had plans and an announcement to make and he didn't need to give the press something to delve into. Politicians were expected to look clean no matter how dirty they really were. The American public could be duped into believing almost anything, but even the stupidest of them wouldn't vote for a murderer or drug king. Even if he could prove otherwise.

He needed to be in a public place during all of this. Someplace where no one could believe that he was in any way involved in this. He pressed a button. "Sarah, bring me a list of this week's legislation that's up for debate." He lifted his finger. One method was to stand in the senate and talk for hour after hour. It would be part of a very public record. His talking for hours would draw attention and even TV coverage.


	13. Chapter 13

**Doppelgänger 13**

What Rick wanted to do was go straight to Kate and ask her point-blank, however his memories of Kate Beckett told him that she would just shut him down. Perhaps even pack her bags and find her own way back into the city. It might be weeks before she talked to him again – if ever.

He carefully slid the knife back into her bag and would analyze his readings later. It was certainly a puzzle, an incredibly expensive one. "You surely are a mystery, Kate Beckett." He was quite willing to admit that.

Since Kate left her bag behind he assumed she would be back out to retrieve it eventually after she calmed down. Still he needed that tube of sunscreen. But first he needed to be more ready for the next miscreant. Their "visitor" wasn't going to check in so who sent him would send someone else.

He pulled a case out of his left wristband. Opening it exposed what he needed. "SIX!? Damn… Alexis is so going to hurt me." She'd been after him to replace his equipment. It was just he always found something else to spend his money on. Six would have to do then. He activated the computer in the case that would direct his "eyes" to cover as much of the exterior of the house and surrounding area as possible. Rick set his locations on his computer and then watched his little guys fly away all at one time. After that he connected the alerts he would get to his contact which would show him what they saw.

Putting it all away he began searching for that tube of sunscreen. After finding it and gooping himself up, he got back in the pool and started doing some lazy laps back and forth. His mind wasn't on swimming, though, it was on Kate and her knife.

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Kate wasn't sure where to begin her search. She had an entire house to look through. It could be anywhere and she didn't even know what she was looking for.

Her thoughts were interrupted when suddenly she got an image. It was exactly like the one she got from her Crystal Parrot in her apartment. But this image was from high above _this_ house. "What _is_ that?" She saw a small object that seemed to fly on its own. It appeared to come from the back of the house near the pool. Then she saw another one just like it followed by still another. The ones she saw were spread far apart. One landed on the house; the first one actually landed near her Crystal Owl. Her Owl turned its head to give her a better look at it. It looked nothing like what she was used to seeing. Even the memories that Kate Beckett gave her showed her nothing.

"You're not a Parrot and not an Owl. How are you doing what my Owl is without wings?" Was someone watching her and Castle?

"THEY CAME FROM THE POOL!" It was where she'd left Castle. "Castle!" She was on her feet and running as fast as she could. It occurred to her that she had left her bag at the pool so she didn't have a weapon on her. How was she going to defend him without a weapon? Her fear of losing him was taking over. She couldn't lose him, she just couldn't.

Kate ran downstairs and opened the back door, leaving it open in her haste to reach the pool. She didn't really have a plan, she just knew she needed to be there.

She actually jumped over the pool's security gate. What she found baffled her. Castle was just floating on his back in the water. Everything looked peaceful to her. "Castle… CASTLE." That got him to stand up since he was in the shallow end at the moment. "Is… is everything okay?"

"Yeah, why? Come on, hop in the pool." Rick crooked his finger at her, inviting her to come to him. She ran earlier which this Rick's memories told him she was wont to do. So why did she come back? If she really wanted to leave she could.

She was conflicted. She had rushed down here because she feared for his life. But nothing had really changed. She didn't know how or why, but she found herself slipping into the pool and slowly walking over to him.

He was glad to see her do as he asked. "What's going on Kate? Can you explain it to me?"

Kate looked up at him and only saw love and a longing for her to talk. She knew talking wasn't her strong suit.

"How long have we known each other? Have I ever given you cause to fear me?" Rick felt some of this Rick's memories. "Okay, skip that question. Have I ever intentionally hurt you? Knowingly caused you pain?"

She searched her memories and shook her head. _"Kate Beckett loves you."_

She felt him step closer and she let him wrap his arms around her. It was just what she wanted and feared most. "Are you going to tell me what got you back down here in such a rush?" he asked in a gentle voice.

She pressed her face into his chest. She needed to hide somewhere. She shook her head. "I was scared," Kate whispered.

Rick considered this progress. "Have you been scared ever since… ever since we got together back in LA?"

"NO!" She lifted her head to look at him. "I wish I could tell you but I can't. Not yet." Not until she found that item. It was here somewhere, she just needed to find it. Speaking of which she started looking Castle over. She even ran her hands over his body.

"Keep that up and neither of us are making it out of this pool anytime soon." He was beginning to enjoy the attention she was giving him.

"What are these?" Kate lifted up one of his hands to show them both one of the wristbands he was wearing. Including into the pool.

"Wristbands." Rick resisted yanking his hand away, out of her grasp.

"What do they do?" Was this what she was looking for? "Take it off." She tried to figure out how to remove it.

Now he did jerk his hand away. "Why do you need to know? They're wristbands." _Very technologically advanced wristbands filled with countless items._ But he didn't tell her that.

Kate grabbed hold of his hand again and held it up. "It looks…" She stopped when he pulled his hand away again and backed up a step. Confused, she stared at him.

"I'll tell _you_ if you tell _me_ what's in your bag," he said. She looked shocked and suddenly was very defensive; she moved a couple feet away from him. Rick said nothing; he tilted his head as he looked at her.

"You got in my bag?" She didn't want to be angry, but he had snooped into her private things.

"I was looking for sunscreen. You know – the stuff that you and everyone else have been reminding me constantly that I should be wearing when I'm outside?" he snipped.

"So does that mean you can go into my room and search my suitcase since you are only looking for sunscreen?" she asked heatedly. Just where did her privacy stop?

"Don't change the subject. What is that thing?" Rick certainly wouldn't go snooping in her room and she should know that. This was just deflection.

Kate was in a bind. He had seen it so how did she describe it? She knew what it could do since that was why she had stolen it in the first place. She just didn't know how to make it work.

"It's a knife." Technically it was a dagger in her world but it was still just a knife.

Rick glared at her. "With a blade made out of a giant ruby?" Sarcasm practically dripped from his voice. Knives were just not made using that material. It was far too expensive, yet alone the difficulty in finding a ruby that size.

She was wracking her brain to come up with an answer that didn't give herself away. Kate Beckett trusted him and she was learning to, but…

He didn't want her to be angry nor did he want her to run, which based on what he had learned from this Rick was what she was likely thinking of doing. So…

He paused for a moment then stepped up to her, wrapped his arms around her again, and pulled her in close. That she didn't resist spoke volumes.

"Talk to me, Kate. I know that's a novel concept for us. This is your chance – tell me you want to go forward to more or stay as we are… Or were." Before they had made love to each other.

Her shoulders slumped and her head dropped. "You wouldn't believe me." Kate was sure of that.

"I think you'd be amazed at what I can believe. It might be _you_ that's amazed." Rick had made up his mind that if she talked to him he would explain everything to her. Followed by never letting her out of his sight, since she would be sure to run. After all, _her Rick was dead._

"You promise to listen and let me explain?" Kate could feel that Kate Beckett would be running. Kate knew that she loved him and she herself was getting there. The main part that worried her was this – was it Kate Beckett or was it she who loved him. Being Kate Beckett with all her memories was blending with who Snohbal was.

"I'm not going anywhere, I promise." What could she possibly say that would get him to run?

She made sure her arms were wrapped around him nice and tight. "It's a dagger from my world. I stole it just before I escaped from it. It really wasn't home to me. I needed to find a better place to live so I planned for months to escape. It's magical. I know what it can do but not how to make it work." Kate squeezed her eyes closed and waited for the inevitable.

"You escaped?" That didn't make a whole lot of sense even to him. "Escaped from where?" The memories he had of Rick weren't helping here. This Rick knew a lot but nothing about this.

Kate squeezed a touch tighter without actually hurting him. "From one of the 666 layers of the Abyss." She prayed this would go well. She could feel her heart pounding. However, it didn't.

"The Abyss." Rick felt his heart rate leap or maybe it stopped completely. "You're a goddamn _DEMON!"_ He ripped her arms from around him, took a step back, and produced a weapon from his right wrist. He pointed it straight at her. " **A STINKING DEMON!** " He was wrong, he was shocked. He'd let a _demon_ get close to him.

Kate tried to talk to him. "Castle…"

" _ **SILENCE!**_ _"_ he roared then pressed his weapon to her forehead. He needed to think. Really think.

"What did you do to the real Kate Beckett?" He hunted demons so he knew what they could do. He was betting this one was a succubus.

She did her best to explain by using the truth. "Nothing, I swear! I found her in an alley. She'd been stabbed and was bleeding terribly. She was almost dead. I wanted to help her, truly, but there was nothing I could do. I needed a place to hide. I needed a new life so I took as many of her memories as I could before she died and made them mine."

That didn't sound like something a succubus would do. It didn't escape him that she hadn't as yet tried to kiss him and drain him. To try and make him hers. In fact she was the one that had wanted to take things slow.

"Say I believe you. Why should I trust you?" Rick demanded. She was an evil demon like all the rest of her kind. They killed and tried to dominate people everywhere they went.

"I don't want to hurt you. I've tried so hard not to. Kate Beckett loved you." She cocked her head, a puzzled look on her face. "How do you know about demons?" As far as she knew demons couldn't leave her world unless they were summoned to perform a task for the summoner, the one who called them forth. The more powerful ones might actually escape after being summoned and go on a killing spree.

Kate had been threatened before on her world. Threatened with far more than a bullet to the head. Besides if she really felt like he was going to pull the trigger she could try and charm him. Except instead of kissing him she would run and never stop.

"I hunt your kind and either kill them or capture them for a living. It's good money," Rick explained, not sure why he was telling her about himself. He couldn't capture her and take her anywhere since he didn't have a ship. That meant he had to kill her. But this Rick loved her and he was learning to. Before he found out she was a demon, that is.

Kate's memories told her that Rick was a writer. He was filled with strange stories about CIA and aliens. Kate Beckett had put up with it and learned to love some of them. He made life fun. "Is this one of your stories?" And where did he suddenly get the gun?

"You assumed the life of Kate Beckett. So who killed her if you didn't?" Rick quickly pulled out a device from his left wristband.

"What's that?" she asked warily since he already had a weapon pointed at her head.

"It's a lie detector. I just need to set it for your kind." He used his forefinger to touch the tiny screen. "All right, explain to me what you did to Kate Beckett." Now that he had a machine to tell him if a demon was lying, he felt better. Plus he had selected a round that would enter her head and explode. It would make one hell of a mess, but the demon would be dead.

" _Kate Beckett loved him."_

"I escaped from my layer of the Abyss because I didn't fit in. Everyone was malicious and vile. The Prince that ruled my layer was viciously evil. Plus I'd heard that people from another plane could summon my kind and force them into servitude. I hated my home and the idea that I could be made to do something I didn't want to do was… Anyway, I spent months coming up with a plan. The timing had to be perfect to steal something from the Prince.

I stepped out onto this plane simply to find a place to sleep because I was tired. That was where I found a woman lying on the ground in a pool of blood. A very large pool of blood. I wanted to help her but she was too badly hurt. So I used one of my abilities, joined my mind to hers, and found out everything." Kate stopped for a moment. She raised her hand then dropped it to her side. "She touched my heart, Rick. I admit that I needed a place to hide and live my life. I felt so helpless. But I made her a promise that I would live her life and find out who killed her. And she… she loved you. She had such strong emotions for you and her mother who had also been killed." She ended her story and stood there mute, waiting for him to say something, anything.

Rick had been keeping one eye on her and one eye on his device. He knew that a demon could look and sound convincing but his device was showing that she told the truth throughout her entire story.

"You wanted to go slow," Rick whispered as he started to understand.

"Kate Beckett loved you. I'm falling in love with you. But I can't kiss you. I want to kiss you but I can't. My kisses will drain you and end up killing you. I'll not risk that. I just won't. I don't want to hurt you… What do we do now?" She could still feel the gun pressed against her forehead. She might be fast enough to take his weapon away from him, but where had this gun come from? There was probably another; she couldn't fly away fast enough and not be shot.

His conscience told him what to do and his device told him she was telling the truth. He could always kill her later if need be. He retracted his gun and his device. He saw Kate relax and let out a breath.

He struggled internally. This Rick loved her and he was learning to love her. What he himself thought just took a giant hit. She was a demon!

Rick drew in a deep breath and let it out. He made his choice."I'm _not_ Rick. I mean I am, but I'm not… not really. My real name is Richard James Rodgers and I'm a hunter. I take jobs all across the galaxy and make money hunting down people like you. Or I hunt down items that have been stolen from their rightful owners."

Kate's heart sank and she wanted to escape. If he was telling the truth, she was everything he hated.

"My ship had a major malfunction and I was forced to escape. I ended up here completely by accident. My escape pod was all but destroyed just trying to get into this planet's atmosphere. I had no choice but to parachute in and I landed on a low rise building. I saw a van drive by very slowly and they threw out a well-dressed man. By some miracle he was still alive when I reached him, however every one of his fingers had been smashed. I was amazed that he was still breathing." Rick watched her react with distaste when he talked about his fingers. Her reaction spoke volumes.

"I downloaded as many of his memories that I could." Rick finished explaining how he got to be here.

Kate had listened to everything. "So you needed a life too." He was hiding just like she was.

He was ready to contradict her; he'd had time to think about his choice. He might have been able to integrate himself into this planet's culture. He had to admit that being Richard Castle was so much simpler, though. "There are a few similarities to my life and his along with a number of glaring differences." He was still coming to grips with all of them.

Kate caught onto one of them real fast. "You're not a writer are you?"

"No, I'm not. I've never written anything other than reports about those I capture or goods I retrieve."

Her eyes opened wide. "Alexis and Martha… You haven't told them have you?" Her heart ached for them.

Rick shook his head. "I haven't really thought about that yet. Surprisingly, I have a daughter of my own and her name is Alexis. Amazingly enough, she looks exactly like this Alexis."

A thought suddenly struck her after he said that. "How do you look like this Rick, the dead Rick? Did you use another one of your devices? And how do you do that?" Kate pointed to one of his wristbands.

"That was a tremendous shock. I look like this Rick. He could be my exact double. In my world they are called _Doppelgängers._ They're creatures that duplicate your looks and try to take over your life after draining you dry and killing you."

Kate was catching on. "Someone you hunt down." Rick nodded.

"So what now?" She was back to her original question. "I need a life, you need a life. Kate Beckett loved you." _She loved him._ "I just can't kiss you."

"Richard Castle loved her, too." He twisted his head from side to side a little. "There _is_ a way." Rick could feel this Rick's love for her – the other Kate – and he couldn't help it.

"A way? A way for me to kiss you?" Was _he_ the item that her book had shown her that she needed to be able to kiss him?

He apparently wasn't going to kill her so did that mean she could stay? He had a way that she could be Kate Beckett and keep her promise.

"How?" If he had a way she was going to get to finally kiss him!


	14. Chapter 14

**Doppelgänger 14**

Rick walked past her and over to the edge of the pool. There he pulled a device out of his left wristband and started working the controls. Kate following him and watched him. It was a machine; she was totally unfamiliar with all machines. Kate Beckett had some memories of a few but this wasn't one of them. She stood there, silently watching him.

Moments later he stopped and pulled out a small tube that went into what Kate recognized as a syringe. But it was different; she didn't really see a needle. Then the machine vanished back into his wristband. Rick turned to look at her and show her the vial. "What's that?" It had a clear liquid inside.

"This will prevent you from affecting me with your demonic powers. I've used it before when hunting down people like you," he told her.

Kate did her best not to be insulted but it was difficult. He kept referring to her as though she was some kind of vermin. "How long does it last?" She hoped he didn't have to keep injecting himself every hour of every day. That wasn't really much help. In her quest for an answer her book had simply responded to her question.

"A few days, about a week, actually. Maybe a little over." A once a week shot sounded like a pain to her, not knowing that Rick had injected himself with this concoction for weeks at a time before.

She stood there and looked at him and waited. _"Please_ _, oh please_ _take the shot!"_

Kate watched as he submerged his hand and touched the end of the syringe to his upper thigh. Then she saw it retract back into his left wrist. He had given himself the shot!

"How long?" she asked, her voice quavering a little. How long did she have to wait?

"It's pretty much instantaneous. It's meant to be used in an emergency and…" Rick had to stop speaking when Kate squealed like a little kid and lunged at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with every bit of her pent-up passion.

She was kissing him, giving him all of her love that she and Kate Beckett had for him, even if it wasn't him, but was. At first Rick didn't kiss her back, but soon she felt his arms around her and felt him returning her kiss as he pulled her in closer.

Kate only broke from the kiss to get some air before kissing him again. The next time she broke from the kiss she moved her lips to his ear. "I've been wanting to do that for days." She nibbled on his ear making him yelp.

Rick drew his head back to look at her. "Are you a demon or a vampire?" he grinned wickedly. He had hunted those, too.

"I'm all demon," she answered, her eyes sparkling. She grinned broadly and reached behind her to untie her top. Rick's eyes rounded as she removed it and exposed her breasts. Then she pulled her bikini bottoms down and kicked them away.

He loved what he saw. She was one of, if not the most beautiful women he had ever seen and she had stripped right in front of him. A moment later he saw an almost typical succubus standing in front of him.

Her breasts hadn't changed much in size. The color of her skin had changed dramatically as had her hair color. She no longer looked like Kate but she was still just as beautiful. He also didn't overlook her really large bat-like wings.

She had dropped her illusion of Kate Beckett and showed him what Snohbal looked like and _he didn't run._ So she stepped in close, wrapped her arms around his neck, and started teasing the little hairs that she found there. "My name is Snohbal. Kiss me, please?" Was he still willing to kiss her? "It's not a charm spell, it's just me and I'm not evil. Almost everyone on my home plane is. Some are beyond evil. I escaped because I'm not. Kiss me, Rick." She needed him to be willing to kiss her. To know who and what he was kissing.

"I'm not evil, Castle and I'm at least half Kate Beckett now. I'm beginning to worry that I'll lose who I am to her the more I live her life. I use her memories for everything now." Snohbal searched his eyes. "Are you afraid of…" She stopped talking when Castle kissed her.

Snohbal put her hands behind his head and pulled his face to hers so that she could intensify the kiss. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and reveled in his taste. She felt his tongue searching hers.

Kate broke from the kiss to get some air and rested her forehead against his. She also shifted back into her Kate Beckett form. "Still willing to kiss me?" she grinned, her joy written on her face. She had shown him what she was and he had kissed her!

"Rick loved her with all of his soul. According to his memories they had been dancing around each other for years, before…"

Kate interrupted him. "Before they made love. I remember that day. Kate Beckett had finally given in to what she wanted. She broke up with her boyfriend she had at that time…"

Rick broke in. "Doctor motorcycle boy." He remembered that name and knew this Rick didn't like him much. Kate giggled.

"We may have a problem with him. He didn't take to me dropping him very well. The words he used were insulting and gave the impression that he would want revenge. He doesn't like you," she confided.

"I'm not worried about him," he assured her. "I have scanners scattered around the house. If he or anyone else shows up I'll know."

Kate's eyes widened in surprise. "Those little boxes are yours?"

Rick lifted his forehead off of hers and tilted his head. "How do you know about those?" He'd always thought they were nearly impossible to spot.

"I have a Crystal Owl watching the house. It saw them leave the pool area. One of them is sitting not far away," she replied.

She had something watching the house also. That was interesting. "So what's that knife in your bag?" Rick was dying to hear about this. Both Ricks actually.

"It's a dagger that was owned by a prince who was the ruler of the plane of the Abyss I'm from. He's evil beyond belief. He also has tremendous power. I saw him use the it and decided I had to have it before I escaped. So I watched his compound for months and made a plan. It was dangerous and there was little room for error or unexpected events. If I was caught I would be tortured, probably until time itself ended.

It's a Dragon Blade. It houses a massive and extremely powerful Red Dragon. Once it's called forth from the dagger it will do your bidding for a short time then return to the dagger. I watched him use it to defeat a demon that tried to challenge him for rule of the plane. He didn't stand a chance of defeating the prince let alone the Red Dragon. It was… gruesome." Just thinking about it make Kate's stomach churn.

"A dragon? A real fire-breathing, giant-wings-and-tail, head-full-of-teeth dragon?" He'd never seen such a thing in his life. He had been many places but had never seen a real dragon. She nodded.

"What now? Kate Beckett loves you, even if she never told you. I can learn to love you just as much." She didn't want to lose him.

"I can think of one thing." Rick smiled and reached down to pull his swim trunks off. He lifted Kate up, pushed her against the pool wall, and placed the tip of his erection at her opening.

It was far more than she thought he would do or say. She wrapped her legs around him and felt him enter her slowly and gently. He was inside her and she loved it. She pulled his head to her and kissed him.

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Kate was lying alone on one of the chase lounges. Castle had gone into the house to get them snacks and a couple bottles of cold water. She was content. They had talked and they were still together.

Castle had fucked her and she had kissed him without hurting him. He'd found out she was a demon, just not an evil demon. She had found out he wasn't Castle but _was_ Castle.

"Here you go." He handed her a bottle of water and set a plate with cheese and crackers on a small table between them.

"Thanks." She took a big drink and set it down to replace it with a cracker and a piece of cheese. She popped it in her mouth and turned to look at him. "So you're still in? Not going to kill me?"

"No, as strange as that might be… no. I'm still trying to come to grips with Kate Beckett being killed and you replacing her and Richard Castle being killed and me replacing him." Rick still didn't understand how that happened.

"Would you go over again just when this happened for you?" He was afraid of the answer. After listening to her explain it in terms of time it was just as he feared. "Damn. They were both picked up, questioned, and then killed. You were left to bleed out and I was dumped to die alone." Kate Beckett and Richard Castle had definitely been singled out.

"They wanted to know what she knew. Wanted…"

Castle finished for her. "To know what we knew about someone."

"So who is it? Who's the mysterious someone?" Kate queried. They were soon talking about the men who had done the questioning, comparing what had happened to Kate Beckett and Richard Castle. Rick shook his head. Richard Castle had no idea and he had no idea.

"It appears that the same person interrogated both of us. Sounds like you first, then me." Rick figured that part out easily enough.

"How long before he sends someone else after us when he finds out that we're still alive? Even if it is us now," Kate questioned aloud.

"I think he may have already," Rick replied calmly.

Hearing that, Kate turned her head to look at him. "What are you talking about?"

"I killed someone just a few hours ago who was armed and hunting for one or both of us. He wasn't very good." Rick had killed him easily.

She bolted upright. "And just when were you going to tell me?" How was she to defend herself if she didn't know they were being hunted?

"I didn't know who you were at the time, remember? Plus I was still trying to hide who I really was from you," he reminded her.

That calmed her down, but she did pick up her bag and retrieve the dagger. She held it tightly in her hand then lay back down. "Where is he? Can you scan a dead person and get answers?" Kate didn't know what Rick was capable of doing.

He shook his head. "I did to him what I did with Richard Castle's body; I dissolved him so that he couldn't be found. I do have everything he had on him, though."

Kate sat up again to get another cracker and cheese. "How did he get here? The drive took us hours." She put it in her mouth.

"Good question, let's find out. Find something to wear, put on some shoes, and let's go look." Rick stood up taking a few crackers and cheese pieces with him.

She met him downstairs and started chuckling. Both of them were dressed in jeans, tee shirts, and sneakers. She had her dagger stuffed into the front of her jeans, hidden beneath her shirt, while Castle had his wristbands.

Rick reached for her and they walked to the front door hand in hand. Kate loved it. He wasn't running and neither was she. She was cautiously hopeful about a future together.

"You go that way and I'll go this. If you find something, give me a call or text." He got a kiss from Kate who walked toward the north.

He really couldn't believe it. He'd kissed, had had sex with a demon, and he'd enjoyed it. _"She really is different. …Extraordinary."_

Rick assumed that their visitor would drive off the road but not into someone's driveway. A strange car near a house would attract attention. Plus it needed to be reasonably close to Castle's beach house. It didn't take long before he spotted a suspect vehicle. He took out his cell phone and sent her a text. _Found one. RC_

He had the keys he had found on the shooter; both had the Toyota logo on them. In his world the car would likely be booby trapped so he started looking it over. "What are you doing, Castle?" Kate had arrived and found him half under the car much to her surprise.

"Searching. In my line of work the transportation has a tendency to have hidden dangers."

Kate was willing to agree with him so she started looking inside without actually touching the car. "How do you know it's his?" It was a car; this world had lots of them. He stood up and held out the keys. "Oh." That they matched helped. "It looks empty inside. Find anything?" Had he gotten dirty for nothing?

"I think I'll start with the trunk." Rick inserted the key and twisted it. It popped open and nothing happened. Lifting it open showed that it was empty. "Well, no dead body."

"A dead body would start to stink drawing attention," Kate said, stating the obvious.

"He could've sealed it in plastic, preventing the blood from staining the trunk," Rick retorted somewhat defensively. "If he was a pro he would clean the car, preventing anyone from knowing he was ever in it."

"Yet you said he wasn't because you killed him so easily," she countered and Castle glared at her. It felt fun so she just grinned back at him. "Can we look inside now?"

He took the front seats and she took the back. Rick popped the hood and looked at the engine. "What else did he have on him?" Kate stood next to him looking at the engine.

Rick handed her the wallet he'd gotten off the shooter. "Says here his name is Bruce Webber and he lives in Brooklyn. Thirty-two years old, six foot one in height…" Kate stopped talking when Rick pulled a device out his left wristband and scanned it, then looked at the readings.

"It's a fake." He retracted the device.

"What are those things?" Curious, Kate pointed at his wrist.

"Wristbands; they use dimensional compression. Each can store a large number of items. You simply have to remember which wristband holds what and ask for what you want from each wristband." Rick kept looking at the engine bay.

"How much of that shot do you have?" How long could she keep kissing him?

"Not a lot actually. I just need the basics to be able to make more, though. With the correct amount of base material I can make an unlimited amount… why?" He stopped looking so he could look at her.

"I just wanted to make sure I could keep doing… this." Kate grabbed his head and kissed him, enticing him to kiss her back. She broke from the kiss and moved her lips to his ear. "I have plans for you later," she purred which sent a charge through him that ended at his crotch. "You better be able to keep up with me," she cooed. She had plans to fuck his brains out.

Thanks to Kate Beckett's memories and her own hormones, she was beyond horny. And since she hadn't been able to kiss him until today, she had plans to make up for lost time.

"Think about sex much?" Not that Rick was complaining, just that it had been a while and he was out of practice.

"I _am_ a succubus you know." Kate thought that was answer enough.

Rick closed the hood, unhappy that they hadn't found anything. "Fake ID, a little money, maybe just enough for gas, keys, and a cell phone." He definitely was not happy.

"Cell phone? You didn't mention that. Can one of your gadgets work for us?" she asked.

He took it out of his wristband to look at it. "It looks simple and really primitive, even for this world." He wasn't sure what he could do with it.

"Can you make your voice sound like his? Find out who or where it was calling? Something?" Kate wasn't giving up.

He shook his head. "As bad as it sounds, this device and this planet are just too primitive. Hack a planetary communication network, yes. Chase a simple frequency from tower to tower till it reaches the end? Not so much."

"Okay… okay. So how do these phones work? Can you at least get an idea of where it's calling? Maybe finding out where will help." She was desperately trying to use Kate's memories to come up with something.

"Wait, I think I have something. Give me that thing." She snatched the cell phone out of his hand and started walking to the house.

"Where are you going?" Rick started following her; he didn't have anywhere else to go.

"I have an idea, just work with me here." Kate wasn't sure just what she would learn but it was better than nothing.

He followed her all the way to her room where she took a thick book out of her suitcase. "A book?" How was a book going to help them?

"This book's from my world. I got it from the same place I got the dagger." She opened the book and Rick was amazed at what he saw. It was a 3D version of this house.

"If I use this phone, where is the person now that will answer it?" Kate asked the book. A different page glowed so she began turning to that page. It was there that they both saw a building glowing.

"What is this building?" she asked the book; a name started to glow.

 _Russel Senate Office Building_

"Do you know this building?" She didn't have a clue. Even Kate Beckett's memories didn't have anything.

"Let's find out." They left her bedroom and went downstairs to Rick's office where he'd left his computer.

"Interesting book, you'll have to tell me about it." He sat down and Kate came around behind him.

"It's magical much like a number of items from my world. My Crystal Owl, that book, this dagger. There are a lot of items just like it on my world." Kate had seen a lot of magical items and even had a few more like her little bag.

Rick did a search. "Let's see... Russel Senate Office Building." He read from the screen:

" _The first_ _congressional office building_ _was constructed immediately after the turn of the 20th century to relieve overcrowding in the_ _United States Capitol_ _. It houses 32 members of Congress from a number of different States. Colorado, Missouri, North Carolina, West Virginia, New York and others. It houses the_ _following committees:_

 _• United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry_

 _• United States Senate Committee on Armed Services_

 _• United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration_

 _• United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship_

 _• United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs_

 _•_ _United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations"_

"It's filled with offices for senators." Rick didn't understand and neither did Snohbal, but Kate Beckett and Richard Castle did.

"I don't suppose that book of yours can tell us which room he or she is in?"

Kate shook her head. "I've tried that already. A building is as close as it gets."

"Well it's more than we knew at least." Rick wasn't sure what, if anything, it had gained them since it came without a name. "No name, this building isn't anywhere near here, and whoever he or she is, they want us dead. Do you have a plan as to what we do next?" He was open to suggestions even if he did have his own.

Hearing a zipper being pulled down, his head snapped around to see Kate taking her pants off.

He decided he liked her idea.


	15. Chapter 15

**Doppelgänger 15**

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 **Sections of this chapter are rated M. Reader discretion is advised.**

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Kate woke abruptly and initially questioned why she was awake. Then she wondered where she was since nothing looked familiar. She was in a room and lying on a bed, just not her bed. A quick look around told her that the room was far too big to be hers. A brush of her hand proved the sheets were empty and a little cool, though the A/C was on.

Sitting up, she realized she was a bit sore. She reached down found that she was still a little wet. As the memories flooded in a smile lit her face. Kate could remember stripping in front of him till she was completely naked. "See anything you like, Castle?" She'd even shimmied her hips and let her legs part, giving him a glimpse.

She used her hands to clear his desk of almost everything and let it crash to the floor. Then she planted her hands on the desk and bent over. "Want me?" Kate spread her legs and wiggled her hips. The sound of a zipper soon followed and she felt the head of his cock at her entrance. "Well, are you going to fuck me or what?" She turned back to look at him and grinned, letting out a sudden gasp of pleasure as Castle rammed his cock all the way into her in one swift stroke. Then he fucked her hard and fast just like she wanted it. "God, Castle…"

He climaxed far too quickly for her liking and after squeezing his cock of every last drop she twisted, using her leg to sweep his legs out from under him. She dropped him to the floor, listening to him grunt from the hit. Since he was still hard she placed herself over his cock and buried it deep inside her. At first she just ground herself on him until she began bouncing up and down using her leg muscles.

She reached for his hands and placed them on her breasts. "You're so good, Castle… Feel so good." Kate switched to grinding herself on his hard cock. "Don't hold back, come for me, Castle. Fill me with your come again. I want it, all of it." She undulated her hips, moving up and down and guided his fingers to her nipples, relishing that he understood and started pinching her nipples.

Castle's face changed and she could tell that he had just climaxed. She now knew the face he made when he came. It was a face that she put into her memory and wanted to see again and again.

She wanted to kiss him but got another idea. She let his cock slip out of her and moved up his body till she was right over his mouth. "Kiss me, Castle. Kiss me and let me come all over your face." She lowered herself down low enough that his lips and tongue could reach her lips.

His lips and tongue felt so good that she moaned and ground herself on his face. She kept it up till she could feel her orgasm coming. She was close, so very close, she just needed one more stimulant. Pinching her nipples hard was all she needed. It was like being hit by lightening. She screamed his name. "CASTLE!"

A flood of spurting liquid pulses splashed onto his face. He couldn't resist opening his mouth to taste her. He loved her taste. He opened his mouth wide and swallowed all of it till she stopped squirting.

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Kate was still lost in her memories of last night and was getting hot and wet. Then Castle came into the room carrying a breakfast tray. "You're awake." Rick had started dreaming up ways to wake her when he brought breakfast. "I thought you might be hungry. We used up a lot of calories last night." He smiled, also remembering what they did last night.

She waited for him to put the tray down on the corner of the bed. "I _am_ hungry, starving actually." Kate smiled widely, reached over to take hold of one of his arms, and pulled hard, causing him to squeal like a little child.

She used her strength to twist them and landed on top. "I'm very hungry." She began removing the shorts he was wearing – that was all he was wearing – and took his flaccid cock into her mouth. He was hard in no time. Snohbal used her memory of what Kate had done when she had his cock in her mouth and simply repeated everything. Right down to fishing a pair of ice chips out of her glass of orange juice that Castle had brought her for breakfast.

He cried out, "KATE!" and she felt him come in her mouth. She swallowed all of it as fast as she could. She didn't release his cock until he was completely soft. She rained small kisses all the way up to his mouth then kissed him passionately. "Thanks for breakfast." She smiled, her lips touching his.

Rick smiled back and gave her a little kiss. "I aim to please."

She straddled him and sat on his stomach without placing too much of her weight on him. Then she laid her hands on his chest. "I claim you, Castle. You're mine, no other woman can have you."

"What makes you think I want another woman?" Rick countered.

Snohbal's heart pounded. "You agree that you're my lover, that you're mine and no other woman can have you?" Was he really willing to commit to this of his own free will?

"Why would I want anyone else, Kate?" Rick answered.

Snohbal needed for him to say it. For him to bind himself to her and her alone. "Say yes, Rick. You are _my_ lover and no other woman can have you." He needed to agree.

Rick didn't see the need but he didn't want another woman. Yes, she was a demon but she didn't act like any demon he knew. Every demon he knew about or had ever heard about was utterly evil and would have drained him dry from kissing him.

"Yes," he answered firmly.

Snohbal's heart rose up into the clouds. She had a man and he was all hers. He was now bound to her and would never leave her. She bent down to kiss him with all her soul. "You're mine now, Rick; you are my lover and I'm going to treat you right." Snohbal kissed him again.

Kate went to her room while Rick hopped into the shower. When she came downstairs dressed in only a bikini she found Rick cleaning the kitchen. He looked askance at her… attire. "You're doing your morning run in that?"

"Good point." She ran back upstairs and changed to a sports bra then went out the back door to start her run up and down the beach.

Rick went out the back door as well but only made it as far as the grass. What he missed was a phone call that he wasn't there to hear.

His sunburn was much better but he went to the pool where they had left Kate's bag with the sunscreen in it. Once all gooped up he went back to stand in the grass and just take in the view and sounds. "You had really good taste, Richard Castle." So far Rick liked this life that he'd gotten from the writer.

Rick went back inside and moved into the kitchen. Kate was usually thirsty when she came back so he decided to make her something cold to drink when she did. He'd just finished stirring it before placing it in the refrigerator to cool when his phone rang. He quickly put his drink away before answering the phone. "Hello."

"It's about time, Rick. I've called you three times now," the female's voice on the other end all but screeched at him.

She knew his name but he wasn't thinking when he replied, "And you are?"

"As if you don't know," she scolded. "Damn it, Richard, if you don't start..." he interrupted her.

"I don't and since you seem to have no intention to introduce yourself..." He hung up on her and put the phone back down. Besides the woman was rude in the extreme.

He hadn't made it a step yet when his phone rang again. "Hello."

"Don't even think about hanging up on me," she growled threateningly only to hear a dial tone a moment later. It was the last straw for her so she made arrangements. He might be able to hang up on her, but let him try and ignore her when she was right there in his face.

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Kate came back inside looking tired, hot, and sweaty. She was learning to like the difference between the heat outside and the cool that was inside. There seemed to be a wall just at a certain point. She even stepped back outside then back inside so she could feel it again.

"I made you something special for you to drink after you have your shower and change." Rick told her after she closed the door.

That was a first. "I'll be right down then." She hurried up the stairs, stripped, and stepped into the shower. She was learning to love having water wash over her body. Did Kate Beckett understand how good she had it? Or had she taken it for granted not knowing any better?

Kate was standing naked in front of the mirror after toweling herself dry and getting ready to blow dry her hair. "I promised." She thought she was doing the best she could. Kate had loved him and she was pretty sure she did, too. She had certainly made sure he would love no other woman.

She decided on a sundress and a strappy pair of kitten heeled sandals which would be perfect for just about anything they chose to do. Maybe if Castle found out she didn't have anything else on he might want her again. That he couldn't keep up with her sexually never entered her mind. It wasn't like she was going to give him a choice.

The second she left the stairs she saw him reaching into the refrigerator. She sat at the counter and watched him work. The pitcher even had fruit inside it which gave her a clue.

Then he filled two glasses with ice and poured his drink over the cubes. He pulled out a bottle that said _Club Soda_ and finished filling the glass.

She gestured at the pitcher. "What's this?"

"Muddled Lemonberryade. You slice lemons and place them in the bottom of the pitcher. Add a half cup of fresh mint leaves and a cup of sugar on top of the lemons. With a wooden spoon mash the mixture for a minute. Then you add the berries: strawberries and blackberries, and lightly mash. Add a quart of water then chill. Fill a tall glass with ice and fill it three quarters full with the lemon juice mixture, top it off with club soda and serve." Rick served her drink with a flourish and waited for her to taste test it.

He tried his after Kate had sipped hers then drained her glass without stopping to breathe. "That was very good, Castle." She held her glass out for another and watched him fill it with both the fruity mixture and the club soda again. This time she took her time.

"What are your plans for today?" She wanted to know what he was interested in. After all, he knew what she did: she had gone running, spent some time on the beach, gone into the ocean, lounged at the pool, gone into town twice now.

"Well… I've got a few choices for you to consider. First is the Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center. Second is the Bay Street Theatre. They show a number of first run musicals or other plays. Third is a little farther away and requires about a 2 hour drive. It's Coney Island in Brooklyn. It's full of rides and other amusement items. It's right on the beach." Rick had his preference but she had asked instead of requesting something.

Kate thinking about it when a Kate Beckett memory came to her. She had been to Coney Island before, with her father, right after her mother's death and funeral. It had been a sad time in her life. Snohbal loved the idea of making it a much better memory.

"Coney Island?" she asked softly. He had offered it but had he really meant it?

"Gather what you want to take with you, I'll put a picnic basket together and we can snack on the beach. I'll meet you at the car." Rick put his not yet empty pitcher back in the refrigerator.

Kate was smiling as she ran up the stairs. She found a small bag, stuffed a bikini, a towel, sunscreen for Castle, her dagger, and two of her small Crystal items from her book in it. She started to leave before turning back to get money, her ID, phone, and her weapon along with a spare clip.

Kate Beckett was good with a weapon, she knew that from her memories. However, Snohbal had yet to fire it so had no idea if she was any good with it at all. She was smiling broadly when she went back down the stairs and out the front door.

Castle wasn't there so there was nothing to do but wait. Fortunately she didn't have to wait long. She watched him exit the front door. He locked it, carrying a basket and a small bag with him.

Their items went into the trunk. Gallantly, Rick opened the passenger door for her and they were soon on their way. He made one stop to top off his gas. They were both watching what Rick was doing and didn't notice two cars and a van speed by them going toward the Hamptons. One of the cars was directly in front of the van.

Parking was a pain and they had a ways to walk to reach the entrance. Rick chose to leave the picnic basket behind for now since he didn't want to carry it around. Kate put her dagger in her purse and hung it across her body where she could walk and keep a hand on it.

He stopped to pick up a paper that showed today's events. " _The Mermaid Parade_ starts at 1:00 pm; there's a _Coney Island Sideshow_ from 1:00 to 7:00 pm but we need to buy a ticket for today which might not be available. There's _Burlesque at the Beach_ at 10:00 pm, that might be interesting." Rick was grinning but didn't realize he was doing so.

Kate rolled her eyes not realizing that it was a Kate Beckett thing. "Don't get any ideas, Castle; you belong to me," she reminded him then slipped an arm between his body and left arm to hold onto him.

"I can watch and still enjoy," Rick countered not connecting the dots Kate had just given him.

"It says there's a _Mermaid Parade Ball_ event tomorrow from 6:00 to midnight. We could come back tomorrow. You can show off your dance skills." He grinned at her.

"I don't think so. I'm not a dancer and my wings would just get in the way," Kate replied teasingly.

Rick suddenly had the perfect idea. "We could be the quintessential Halloween couple. Go to parties together. You can be the Demon and I can dress up as your Prince." He was grinning widely now.

"We'll see." Even she had to admit that it might be her only chance of being herself out in public. Kate rolled her eyes again when he pumped his arm in victory.

Since they didn't want to miss the parade and it had taken them 2 hours just to get there, they searched for a good spot to view the parade and camped out.

It turned out to be mostly women dressed up in various outfits wearing anywhere from a lot to damn little. When Kate spotted Castle ogling the woman who had big breasts with paint on her body everywhere, a light see-through wrap, and tiny tassels covering her nipples, she poked him in the ribs. But she ended up with a quick kiss from him.

There were old cars being driven by men dressed up as mermen that had 3 women dressed as mermaids riding on the side boards. There were also a few floats that had both men and women dressed as merpeople.

There were groups of women dressed in various mermaid outfits as well. Everyone was waving and a few would throw candy that they found out was actually taffy.

There was a little music followed by a man walking alone at the end. Rick reached out his hand for one of the offered large pieces of paper he was handing out.

"It's an official bribe for him to vote for the best float or presentation." Rick started chuckling. Kate snatched it from him to read it for herself.

They were at the start of the parade and Rick hustled to the farthest ride in hopes that they could start their tour of the rides and miss the crowds.

 _Cyclone_

 _Thunderbolt_

 _Soarin' Eagle_

 _Tornado_

 _Spook-a-Rama_

 _Dante's Inferno_

Kate was grinning; she was having fun and held onto Castle's arm everywhere they went. She knew he had willingly agreed to be hers so he was bound to her now, but she didn't trust some of the women that were walking around. Some were barely dressed and she couldn't help but notice that he had spotted each and every one of them.

"Castle?" Her own insecurities and jealous monster was starting to show when they both spotted a small group of women headed toward them, laughing and touching each other the entire way.

Kate felt herself being twisted to face him and then found herself being kissed soundly, including him slipping his tongue into her mouth. She pressed herself into him and felt her monster being slain.

It was the right time, the perfect time; she wasn't afraid of the words any longer. Neither wholly Snohbal nor Kate Beckett, Kate broke from the kiss and whispered to him, her lips just barely brushing his.

"I love you."


	16. Chapter 16

**Doppelgänger 16**

Kate was walking with Rick toward the next ride when she suddenly stopped. He was all set to question why when he thought he knew why. "A car has stopped at the front of our house." she whispered to him.

"I see it." He got a _"How do you know that?"_ look from her. "Those little boxes as you call them transmit alerts to me that are dispatched onto the contact in my left eye. It's kind of like looking through one soft vision to see the real hard vision of what is actually in front of you. You get used to it after a while."

They both watched as a woman with blonde hair got out of the car and marched toward the front door. When it didn't open for her, she stomped her foot and turned around.

"I don't recognize her," Kate told him.

"I do." Rick knew from his memories of this Rick that this was Gina, his publisher. "She's the publisher for the books I write."

"I thought you've been writing. I mean I've seen you in that room writing or at least typing." Kate didn't understand why she would be here. The memories she got from Kate Beckett told her that Gina was, well… that she was cold. They also told her that she and Castle used to be married.

"I have been and I have no idea why she's here. I mean there." He knew he had a deadline and hadn't reached it yet.

They watched her leave the front door and start walking around to the back. That was where Kate lost her, but Rick didn't. He saw her walk right up to the back door and try to open it. She started pounding on it when she couldn't. Rick saw Kate staring at him. "She's at the backdoor trying to get in."

Then Kate saw something else and she didn't like it. So she grabbed Castle and walked him over to the railing that separated them from the beach. "There's someone else. …Better make that two someones, two men."

"I've got them," he assured her. "…Scanning. Both are white males, each is armed with a semi-automatic weapon with a crude silencer. They also have hand weapons at their side."

"What are they doing at our house?" Both of them overlooked Kate's use of the word _OUR._

"I've got two more with similar weapons at the other end of the house," Rick added.

"There are two more running up to her car." Two more had entered her Owl's field of vision. "What's going on?"

"Well, since I'm a hunter I'd say we are being hunted. My first guess would be that after the first guy failed in his job and likely didn't report, they sent someone else. This new person has decided not to underestimate us and brought some friends."

"That person in the senate building," Kate said and Rick nodded. She kept an eye on her four while Rick watched two of the same four plus the two that Kate couldn't see.

The two she couldn't see walked right up to Gina with weapons drawn and took her, then zip tied her hands behind her back. Rick was unable to hear anything from this distance but a close-up showed that Gina was talking.

Kate had noticed some unusual movements. "They keep touching their ears." Rick cursed internally and used his eye to signal what he wanted. Soon he saw words scroll across his vision. "Wireless communication, they're talking to each other. Probably have to touch it to initiate the send part," he surmised.

"The two at the front of the house are at the door," Kate told him.

"The two that have Gina are at the back door." They both watched as they and Gina entered the house. "I've got two at the pool," Rick added.

Two took up hidden positions at the drive entrance and sat down to wait. "I don't have anything inside the house." He began cursing at his oversight. "Do you?" Rick looked at Kate who shook her head. All she had was her Owl.

"They've taken the house and are finding out that we aren't home. With two at the entrance they'll know when we drive in. Take us by surprise." That would be what he would do.

"Now what?" There were eight of them to their two. "Plus they have your publisher."

"She's a hostage. They're thinking they can use her to get me to surrender myself." He loved Kate and not Gina. In fact the memories he had didn't talk about Gina very much. That alone told him something. He would never give himself up for his ex-wife – neither of them.

Kate had a sudden fear. "Rick – if they want hostages, what about Alexis and Martha?" She looked up at him, her eyes wide with apprehension.

Rick made a snap decision. "We're leaving." He took her hand and started walking. At first Kate was taken by surprise and stumbled her first two steps. But soon she was striding right along with him.

"Alexis and Martha?" Kate said hopefully and saw Rick. That had her moving with more determination. She liked both of them and didn't want them hurt.

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Rick parked on the street. "I'll take the front door, check if the doorman is still there, and if he has seen anyone," Kate offered. "He does know me, right?"

"Yeah, he should." Kate had been here before, several times. "I'll go in through the garage and meet you up there." Rick began to get out of the car but stopped when Kate grabbed hold of him and leaned across to quickly kiss him.

"Do _not_ get yourself killed." She had him and wanted to keep him.

"I'm the hunter here remember?" Rick smiled a wicked smile and exited the car.

They walked side by side for a short time before splitting up and going their separate ways with the same destination in mind. "Castle!" Kate ran back toward him. "What about my dad?" If Snohbal let Kate's dad be killed she will have failed to keep her promise.

"We'll take Alexis and my mother to him then we can decide where they go," Rick said. They were both near the loft now. Her father could come afterward.

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A quick conversation with the doorman told her that Alexis and Martha were both home and that no one had come by. That still left the garage entrance.

Kate didn't see anyone as she went to the elevator. Exiting the elevator, she walked down the short hallway toward the front door. She had no way to see what was behind the door and needed to wait for Castle.

She relaxed a little when Castle stepped out of the elevator and came her way. "The doorman said they were both home and no one else," she said.

Hearing that, he took another device out of his left wristband and held it up to the door. Even Kate could read the display. "I've got two life signs. One's in the kitchen and the other's in the living room."

"Sounds calm," Kate mentioned and watched, still incredulous, when the device retracted back into his wristband. It was amazing to see it happen. In her world it would be considered magic. It even had a slight sparkle effect that would help reinforce that belief.

Rick put the key in the lock, turned it, and got his right wrist ready to pull out a weapon depending on which weapon he would need based on what he saw. Opening the door, he stepped inside first. "Hi Dad!" Alexis called from the kitchen.

"Richard… Katherine!" Martha got up off the sectional leaving her glass of wine behind and went to hug her son and Kate. "What are you two doing here? What have you done now Richard?" Martha was sure her son was at fault.

"Are you two alone?" Kate asked Martha softly.

"Of course dear. Why wouldn't we be?" Martha was puzzled by her question.

"We need to go get my dad," Kate reminded Rick.

"I need you two to pack a bag for a few days. You're leaving." Rick stepped farther into the loft.

Alexis didn't understand and left the kitchen to confront her dad. "What's going on?" She wanted an explanation. Then a thought hit her. "Have you two gotten a case?" Though she didn't see how, they were supposed to still be in the Hamptons.

Kate jumped at using that. "Yes. We think he'll go after our families. There's already one dead." She used a partial truth with which to tell a lie.

"Someone is _dead?"_ Martha found that to be alarming. Granted Katherine and her son worked with death on what seemed like a daily basis. Add to that her son made a living writing about action and death.

"What's going on, Dad?" Alexis wasn't going anywhere until she had answers.

"He's threatened our families. You two were the closest so we came here first. We're going to go get my dad next. So you need to start packing." Kate wanted to get moving. She couldn't fail to keep her promise.

"Just go pack, ladies. We can talk when we reach Kate's dad. Now go." Rick needed to get them moving.

It wasn't the explanation Alexis was looking for nor did it satisfy Martha, however, they both knew Kate was a cop and if she said there was danger, then there was danger. "Come, darling, let's get packed. We can ask our questions on the drive and after we get there." Martha suggested and got Alexis moving.

"Questions such as where are we all going," Martha added over her shoulder as she escorted Alexis upstairs.

"Where are we going to send them or take them?" Kate didn't have a clue.

"Someplace where no one knows they are. Somewhere they know nothing about. Someplace safe." Rick wasn't sure either.

It took longer than either of them liked, however, Alexis and Martha were finally coming down the stairs with a bag that told them they had packed for more than just a day or two.

"I have a class tomorrow, Dad." Alexis hated missing classes.

"Not anymore." Rick was a little abrupt with his answer but that told Alexis that her father was serious. It meant their lives were being threatened. This was the first time that she really wished her father wasn't following Detective Beckett around for her work.

Alexis and Martha sat in the back and were quiet which allowed Rick and Kate to think about what to say on the drive to her dad's.

"Leave the bags for now," Rick instructed and they all went with Kate to her dad's apartment. Her memories told her that her dad worked but he had a habit of working from home so he should be there.

"KATIE!" Jim was happy to see her. But he was immediately curious since Rick, Alexis, and Martha were right behind her. "What's…" Jim didn't get to finish.

"You need to pack for a few days, Dad." Kate charged into the space going right past him followed by everyone else.

"What's going on?" Jim was mystified, especially since everyone was in his home.

"Dad?" Alexis wanted to know also. Martha just glowered at him.

Kate had come up with an idea and decided to add a little truth to it. "Someone has taken Gina captive. Based on what we know they are heavily armed. If they're willing to take her we suspect you three are next."

Jim caught on quickly. "One of your cases."

"I thought you two were on suspension." Alexis still didn't see how this was all happening. Jim glared at Kate since this was news to him.

"Just go pack Dad. Then we can decide where you're going." Kate still didn't have an idea for that – yet. Though a really weird one came to mind but she wasn't sure just how safe it was. Plus it would bring up a lot of questions. She had been told there were rules so they should be safe, but she couldn't be sure.

"Dad, please," Kate begged since he hadn't moved. Jim sighed, did as they had asked, and went into his bedroom.

"They have Gina?" Alexis asked. She wasn't one of Gina's fans and truth be told, never had been. But she didn't want her hurt either. She wondered why would they start with her.

Rick walked over to Alexis and hugged her which seemed to help since she relaxed a little. "We're guessing that it has something to do with why we went to LA." He could remember going there and why. He could also remember almost choking on his drink when Kate came out of the pool.

Rick had told Alexis a little. It concerned Kate's old partner, Royce. "Why?"

He did a quick search of his memories and latched onto something. "It appears Royce was helping someone who had gotten involved with a thief. He was planning to sell what he had stolen." He tried to make it simple since telling lies was easier that way.

Alexis waited impatiently for him to continue. "Dissolving bullets," he said.

That put her mind in overdrive. "Dissolving bullets? Like they dissolve after having been fired?" She looked up at her father and saw him nod. "They would never be able to trace what weapon had been used without a bullet. An assassin could kill anyone he pleased with the same weapon over and over again." Alexis was just beginning to consider the implications.

"It sounds like one of your books, Richard," Martha chimed in, not sure she believed him.

"What's this got to do with us?" Alexis didn't see the connection.

"He was planning to sell what he had been hired to steal. Either who had hired him or who he had contacted to sell them to is furious," Kate added after catching on.

"But you don't have the bullets… do you?" Kate glanced at her father.

Rick was no thief. "Of course not, but we did stop his plans… their plans."

"Retribution?" Alexis questioned. It sounded like a weak motive, but this planet had a lot of weird people on it. So it was possible. "They want to make you suffer for destroying his or her plans." It sounded lame to her, but she wasn't the evil person that wanted to kill people and not leave behind evidence so they didn't have to pay for their actions. "So where are we going?"

"Good question." Jim stepped into the room pulling a small suitcase behind him.

"We haven't had much time to think that part through," Rick had to admit.

"I have a cabin. It's rather remote," Jim offered and Kate suddenly had memories of it from when she had been there.

"It's big enough and it _is_ isolated," Kate agreed.

Rick looked at him. "Who does it belong to? If it's a public record they can just look it up."

"It's mine," Jim replied. It hadn't been purchased as a place for his family to hide out. At least not like this.

"The Hamptons is out for the same reason," Alexis remarked.

"My name isn't Castle," Martha reminded them, not sure if that helped.

That got everyone to look at her. "A hotel maybe?" Alexis suggested.

"We'll need to get and use cash for everything in case they can access our credit card usage," Jim counseled.

Rick jumped all over it since it sounded like a plan. "Choose a hotel. We can stop at a bank in a different part of the city and get the cash you'll need. Make sure you turn off your phones and try not to use them." He took out his own phone, turned it off, and watched the others do the same.

Martha selected a hotel. They got into the Mercedes and Rick drove them there. Three quick stops on the way and he had several thousand in cash to hand to them. It was now that a memory of there being some emergency cash in a safe at the loft came to mind. However it was too late now.

He found himself being hugged by Alexis and his mother, while Kate was embraced by her father.

"Do _not_ do anything stupid, Dad." Alexis knew her dad.

"Hey, it's me," he argued.

"Don't do anything stupid, Dad," she told him yet again.

Rick and Kate watched them go inside to find rooms. "This better work." He wasn't sure about any of this. He didn't know the power and reach of the person who was after them.

"Do we have a choice?" Kate didn't like her wild thought about taking them into the stairwell that got her here. It might be safe from anyone on this world, but not safe from all the others.

"Now what?" Kate questioned.

"I hope you're ready. For me it's job as usual. We're going to be doing a lot of killing," he warned.

She raised an eyebrow and lifted her chin. "I'm a cop, Castle."

"Kate Beckett was. How many people have you killed?" Rick knew demons were evil and killed people. But Kate… Snohbal, had proven to not be evil.

She looked down at the concrete. "None. But Kate has and I'm Kate." She looked up at Rick with determination. She wasn't going to fail. She had far too much to lose. She had a new life that she liked. She had found someone to love and could kiss him without killing him. Plus she had a promise to keep.

"I hope it's enough. We can plan on what to do along the way. Let's go." Rick led the way back to the car and the drive to their future.


	17. Chapter 17

**Doppelgänger 17**

They'd bounced ideas off of each other over what to do for the next hour and a half as Rick drove. So far everything they had come up with always seemed to have them splitting up and Rick had rejected each scenario.

"I can't cover you if I don't know where you are or can't see you." He was the hunter and he was the one heavily armed. Then he had an idea. "Tell me more about how you're able to look like Kate. Can you look like someone else? Maybe one of the men that's waiting for us?"

"What you see is basically an illusion. Underneath I'm still a succubus. When you touch me you will feel and sense Kate and not me, though. Basically the illusion covers all aspects of the senses: sight, hearing, smell, and touch. From your point of view I _am_ Kate."

Just so he understood her, Rick said, "So when we make love it's Kate that I'm feeling and kissing; I can't feel your skin or wings."

Snohbal started to blush but it wouldn't transfer to Kate unless Snohbal wanted it to. "Yes." When Castle touched her he actually touched Kate. "Is that a problem?" she asked hesitantly. _"Please say no, please say no_ _,_ _"_ she chanted wanted to keep making love to him forever and ever.

"I guess I never realized. I mean, I knew you could hide by looking like someone else, I just never knew how far it went. And no, it doesn't matter to me." He was already in deep and he knew it. It was partly because he knew this Rick loved Kate Beckett so intensely and partly because he was falling in love with Kate Beckett, too. But he was also falling for Snohbal. The realization that he was in love with a succubus got a soft chuckle from him.

"What's so funny?" Kate couldn't help but feel hurt by his chuckling. Did he find them being together so amusing?

"I never after all these years thought I would fall in love with a succubus. I hunt demons for a living, either killing or capturing them. It just kind of suddenly hit me," Rick admitted.

Kate felt her heart soar and tears begin to well up. She turned to look at him and could swear the pounding of her heart was something that could be heard for miles around. "You… You love me?" Did he mean it or was it something else?

He pulled over to the side of the road and she immediately began to worry. Then he leaned closer, drew her head to his, and kissed her. "I'm going to need another shot soon so I can keep doing that," he murmured. "The answer to your question is yes… Rick Castle is deeply and wildly in love with Kate Beckett. _I've_ learned to love Kate Beckett. And yes, I also love Snohbal."

What he told her brought a flood of tears. He heard a faint, "Oh..." then she began wiping her face. "I love you, too, Rick. So very much. We need to keep better track of your shots. I don't ever want to hurt you." Kate cupped the back of his head and pulled him in for a soul-searching kiss.

"Do you think the other two are happy with us?" They were living someone else's lives, after all.

Rick chuckled again. "I think that if they're watching us, they're beyond happy. If not still a little scared." Scared for their future and still dealing with their own reasons for not having gotten together just before they were both killed.

"They did at least have one day… and night." Rick smiled and wiggled his eyebrows a couple of times which made Kate chuckle. That made it very clear to her that they both obviously had memories of them getting together. Kate Beckett had finally risked her heart.

Kate's attention flipped to their present problem. "We need to get as much as possible from the men who've come to kill us. We're not going to ever be safe if we don't make Kate Beckett and Richard Castle safe." Her face became hard and determined. "We have to play to our strengths and their weaknesses. One thing they aren't expecting is us – Kate the succubus and Rick the hunter.

I get that you don't want to separate so we won't. I can take the two out front easily enough. After that we need to move fast. Since they're using communication devices they may have a check in time for the man in charge to keep up with what's going on.

We take them out two at a time. I'm betting the leader will be with Gina and will use her as a shield when he realizes that we're back and eliminating his men. Have you seen any more beyond what we've seen already?"

Rick shook his head. "We can't let any of them escape. We need the person who sent them to remain in the dark as long as possible. We presently have an advantage and we need to keep it." He wanted her to think about keeping whoever sent these men in the dark.

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The rest of the trip had passed in silence as each thought about various outcomes of what was to happen. They could both still see the two men out front waiting for them; Rick had yet to have eyes on any of the others.

He pulled off the road far from his home. In fact he was in the driveway for a neighbor three houses down. "We'll walk from here, they're expecting a car, probably this car," he explained and they began walking.

They actually walked through their front yard and out into open area toward the next neighbor. They still had one more neighbor's front yard to walk through after this one but Rick stopped at a set of trees. "They're still there; this is where we'll wait for a bit." Rick tried to use the tree to hide his body getting Kate to do the same.

"Why?" She didn't understand the need to wait and hide.

Rick spelled out his reasoning. "I want to see one or both move a hand to their ear. Once that happens I'll kill them and we'll start running."

"From here? I thought we wanted them alive so they could talk." They still had a long way to go to reach the house.

"The range isn't the problem nor is the noise since there will be none. These two are considered expendable, that's why they're out there. If we're stupid and drive right up, they kill us and job done. And they have no reason to suspect that we know they're there.

But say they fail to kill us quickly and a fight starts. Those two die and they still have the advantage. These two die quietly after they check in and we still have the advantage.

Once we're inside we know the layout of the house. If they've gotten lazy they won't." Rick hoped they were lazy. If they were pros they will have searched the house and learned where each and every closet was and what was in them.

Kate was starting to get antsy and wanted to get moving. Standing still behind a tree and still a long way away was getting to her.

"Get ready," Rick suddenly announced. A tiny sparkle at his right hand could be seen and suddenly he was holding a weapon. "Get ready," he told her again.

Kate tried to stay loose and not tense her muscles; she eyed his weapon closely. From the memories she had and those from Kate Beckett, his weapon was like nothing she knew of.

The barrel was a little longer than her service weapon, something that she didn't have on her and wished that she did. It had a large rectangular scope on top. On this end she could see a color display and it was easy to see the body of one of the men out front.

Kate barely heard anything at all and watched Rick target the other man, line him up, then suddenly his weapon was gone. "Let's go." He started running with Kate right behind him.

Rick knew what had happened even if Kate didn't, not exactly anyway. He knew the rounds he'd chosen had entered the head of each man. They had penetrated their skulls then never exited. And that was the point of the round.

The round had essentially destroyed itself once inside the brain. The result was hundreds of tiny pieces being scattered inside the skull. The normal brain was made up of two connected halves. After just one round the entire brain was now more like cottage cheese, small pieces that were no longer connected to anything.

Their brains would have registered the sudden intense pain and they might have actually felt it and reacted. But a fraction of a second later, they were dead and lying on the ground.

Rick and Kate ran as fast as they could through the front yard of the next neighbor and kept going into the empty space that was between that house and theirs. He ran right up to the side of the house next to one of the windows. His spies above hadn't seen anyone so he thought they were still unseen.

Kate stopped next to him and leaned up against the house. She would rather have flown the distance. Running had left her winded and she actually bent over a little, resting her hands on her knees.

"Tired?" Rick questioned.

"I'm better at flying… not running," Kate told him with a large breath in-between.

He gave her a minute to rest; he was busy with other things anyway. She saw him pull another device out of his left wristband. He held it up to the house and started moving it around a little.

"I've got what I think is Gina in the living room, most likely tied to a chair taken from the dining room. There are two men with her." He pointed to each.

Looking around he found one out at the pool. Another was just outside of the pool near the garage. "Now where are the other two?" Rick said to himself and began looking around. "Got 'em." They weren't where he was expecting to find them.

"Bedrooms?" Kate was shocked. "Why are they in the bedrooms?"

"Six are on duty while two rest. They rotate till we come back." It made sense to him. They obviously didn't know where they were or had been, so didn't know when they would return.

"Where do we start?" If Kate had her way she would take the two outside first before going inside.

"Right here, actually," Rick answered. She watched the scanner go back into his wristband and out came another device. "Take out your dagger and get ready. This is where we enter." He started scanning the outer wall.

"Here?!" It was a shingled wall with one window on one side of them and another window on the other side.

"This is the blacked-out window in the movie room. The other is in my office where I've been writing. We're going into the movie room." That door was always closed unlike the door to his office.

Kate still didn't understand how when suddenly the wall vanished and she could see inside. Her mouth fell open. "How… HOW?!" What he had just done was impossible.

Rick stepped inside and pulled her along with him. Once inside he closed the wall up and held a finger to his lips. He wanted them to be silent from here on out.

Kate moved to one side of the door leading into the house while Rick stood in front. He pulled out his scanner again and showed her that not much had changed.

"Here's what we're going to do. I'll take these two. I want you to run past everyone and out into the garage. Your man is just outside the door leading outside from the garage. He's yours. Next for you is the one at the pool. Once I take these two I'll go upstairs." Kate nodded then crouched, getting ready to run.

"I open this door and kill these two and you run," he repeated. Rick retracted his scanner and pulled out yet a different weapon. It was one Kate couldn't remember seeing before. She took a deep breath; she was ready and had her dagger out.

Rick opened the door and stepped into what was the dining room that had a massive table that could seat twelve easily. Beyond was the open-concept living room and a kitchen that had a large island with a breakfast bar. The door to the garage was at the end of the kitchen. At the far end of the open space were two doors. One was a bathroom and another was a library.

He raised his weapon and put three rounds in the first man followed by another three rounds in the second. All the rounds fired entered their chest cavities and much like the round that had destroyed the brains of the men out front, these rounds did the same for their hearts and lungs.

Rick cursed when he saw the hand of one of them spasm and pull the trigger on his weapon.

His muscles contracted; they actually held the finger in place and emptied the clip. A large number of rounds went into the kitchen. His weapon had a silencer so very little sound was made, however, the sound of plates and glasses and casework being destroyed was not so silent.

Rick saw Kate run right through all of it and watched as that man fell. He couldn't react fast enough to prevent the man's weapon from firing in her direction. The rounds that were headed for her hit the hostage who was tied to a chair. Gina's body jerked when the bullets struck her.

Kate had the door to the garage open just as Rick started running for the back patio doors. He ignored the now dead men and his equally dead ex-wife. He would be sorry for Gina later.

Kate had made it to the garage. She knew the man was just on the other side of the door, but she wasn't sure how far away or which way he was facing. Also the door was solid and had no glass. She put her dagger away and quickly opened the door. She found him standing with his back up against the house looking out into the side yard. The door opening suddenly got his attention.

She was quick; she placed her hands on either side of his head and kissed him soundly. "You liked that kiss didn't you? Kiss me again," Kate whispered. She kissed him and could feel him kissing her back. "Kiss me again," she breathed.

Kate released him and let his withered and wrinkled body fall to the ground. She actually felt pretty good now. She felt stronger and better than she had in a long time.

She went to the end of the house which happened to be where the pool house was that stored the pool equipment. Kate knew the area well by now. She saw the large white columns that held up the white pergola with the pool under it. The pool was surrounded on the other two sides with plants that helped hide it from people on the beach.

Unfortunately her next target was over by the gate on the other side of the pool and he had a large weapon in one hand. If she ran he would hear her and shoot her.

She ducked behind the pool house and began stripping off her clothes. It only took a moment; she poked her head around to look again. She found him right where he was last time. She'd made up her mind and just needed the nerve to do it. Gripping her knife, Snohbal ran the few steps to the edge of the pool, shifting her form as she did, and flew across the pool.

He was intent on looking at the yard and beach and never turned her way. She literally slammed into him, which caused them to crash through the flimsy little gate that allowed access to the pool. The second they both hit the ground, Snohbal brought her hand up and plunged her dagger up to the hilt directly into his left eye. She paid no attention to the popping of his eyeball or the blood that spurted everywhere. She yanked her dagger back out with her strength and plunged it into his right eye.

Snohbal knew the two in the house were gone, as were the two out front of the house. Now these two were gone. That left the two upstairs. She looked up and down the path along side of the house to the back doors that led out onto the grounds and out to the beach.

Rick had just reached the doors to check on the man outside and help Kate if she needed it. Then the sound of heavy feet on the stairs got his attention. Rick didn't wait for the man's torso to come in sight. He raised his weapon and put three rounds in one of his lower legs. The thug cried out from the pain and tumbled down the stairs to land in a heap where Rick put another three rounds in his chest.

His left leg was shredded muscle and his heart and lungs were equal to the mess of the two men already at Rick's feet.

Rick charged up the stairs. If this noise had alerted this man, then surely the other was awake by now. He pulled out his scanner and saw the last man upstairs out on the bedroom's balcony. "SHIT!" Rick moved in front of the door and kicked it open just in time to see him jump over the side.

Rick raced to the balcony and stopped short. He couldn't afford for the man to be waiting for him to poke his head over the rail and let him shoot it off. Which turned out to be a good idea because no sooner than he'd stopped when the balcony's rail and the house behind him were hit with several rounds.

"I'm betting you are the pro of this bunch," Rick muttered.

Meanwhile Snohbal saw a man jump from the balcony, steady himself and immediately fire several rounds back where he had just come from. She rumbled a low menacing growl. She yanked her dagger out of the dead man's head and started running with the intent of flying at him.

Rick poked his head over the edge of the balcony which thankfully was solid and not glass or spindles and saw his man running hard for the beach.

Rick was all set to raise up and shoot his legs out from under him since this man he wanted alive when suddenly the area around him erupted with a massive number of rounds striking the area. He had no choice but to fall to the decking and hug it.

Snohbal suddenly heard a loud sound that kept repeating itself over and over again. She looked around searching for the sound's origin. She saw a boat just off of the beach. It was nowhere near the size of boat they had been on earlier. However, there was a man standing on the front holding a large gun and he was firing at the house.

Snohbal instantly made a choice. She started flapping her wings with the intent of catching up to the man who was running away, but she also pointed her dagger at the boat. "I command you to kill everyone on that boat and destroy it." If anyone had been looking at her right at that moment they would have seen a gigantic Red Dragon spring forth from the dagger. It flew up into the air flapping its wings hard to gain altitude.

Snohbal was impressed but she'd seen this dragon before. She kept her attention on the running man. She didn't fail to notice that the man on the boat never stopped firing. She just paid no attention to what he was firing at.

The marksman on the boat was good, but even he was ready to pee his pants at the sight of the massive Red Dragon. It came out of nowhere and was headed right for him. He shifted his fire to the dragon and held his finger on the trigger till he ran out of ammunition.

He could see the rounds striking the dragon; it never changed its course. He saw it open its mouth and out came an inferno of flame. It enveloped his body and the boat; he and the boat turned into ash while a small explosion happened when the gas tanks erupted.

The man running came to a stop and stood there gaping at what he'd just seen. It wasn't possible, it just wasn't. To his horror he saw the dragon soar out over the ocean, turn around, and fly straight toward him. He lifted his weapon and was ready to fire at it when suddenly he was hit hard from behind. All the air was forced out of his lungs when he struck the ground.

Looking up he was taken by surprise yet again. Above him with its hands holding his to the ground, was something he had only ever seen in picture books about myths or movies. It – she – was beautiful. Dark tan skin, lovely long hair, nice breasts with large nipples, but her massive wings got most of his attention.

The next thing he knew she was kissing him. The kiss was amazing. It was like no other he'd ever had in his entire life. "You like my kisses. Kiss me again," Snohbal told him and leaned down to kiss him again. She could feel him returning her kiss.

Rick had noticed that the rounds were still firing but none of them were hitting anywhere near him. He got up on his knees to peer out over the balcony. What he saw was amazing.

An enormous Red Dragon flew toward the boat where a man fired at it using a type of gun Rick had never seen before. He watched as a fiery blast left the dragon and enveloped the man and his craft. He heard and saw the boat explode but when the flames were gone, so was the boat and the dragon's foe. Then he saw Kate in her succubus form flying at the man who had escaped him and they crashed to the ground.

Rick saw her kiss him as the dragon turned around and came back to shore. He was still watching as Kate kissed him again. He watched helplessly as the dragon dove for both of them, but at the last moment the beast seemed to get sucked into the blade that was in her hand.

" **KATE** **– STOP!** **WE NEED HIM** _ **ALIVE!**_ _"_


	18. Chapter 18

**Doppelgänger 18**

They had a lot to do and Rick feared they had no time to do it. He'd picked up the man Snohbal had been kissing out in the middle of their back lawn. He'd just finished putting him down on the sofa. Next he pulled out one of his devices and attached the terminal to the man's temple.

"This will download a lot of his memories. I need you to ask him questions. Even if he doesn't answer them, his mind will go to the answers and we can look them over later," Rick said then went over to the two dead men in this room not counting the one at the bottom of the stairs.

"What are you going to be doing?" She wondered why couldn't he ask the questions.

"Getting rid of the bodies. Someone had to have noticed that dragon and reported it." The dragon, the boat, or the man firing a gun at their house.

Kate was too intrigued to do anything, watching Castle strip the first man then pour a liquid over his body. The man slowly disintegrated. By the time he had the second man naked, the first one was gone. "Questions, Kate," Rick prodded as he walked over to the man at the bottom of the stairs.

Rick was walking toward the back door after getting rid of the last man who was at the pool. He had started with the two men out front when he heard the siren. "Time's up." He hoped Kate had asked him a lot of questions.

Rick removed the terminal from dead man's temple and returned the device to his wristband. He was stripping him naked. "Clothes, Kate," Rick suggested to the naked succubus that was standing there watching him work.

"OH!" Snohbal turned back into Kate and ran upstairs.

Rick was just finished stuffing the man's clothes under the cushions of the sofa – most of all the other clothes were out in the garage – just as the front door bell rang. He stopped in the kitchen to wash his hands then looked in a mirror near the front door. He quickly ran a hand through his hair before opening it. "Officer."

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Kate collapsed onto the sofa next to Castle. "Do you think he believed us?" she asked tiredly.

Sheriff Brady had asked a lot of questions, some of which they made up answers for on the fly. Like, _"Why they hadn't called 911?"_

"He'll be back. He'll probably send an entire team to take pictures of all the damage to the outside of the house for one. Then comb the beach for what's left of the boat for another. And do a more complete search of the grounds." Rick knew they weren't out of the woods yet.

"Which reminds me, we have work to do. You clean up the bedrooms where they were staying while I search for their shell casings in the backyard." He got up and moved toward the door.

"Did you have to get rid of Gina, too?" Kate asked before he went outside. She'd seen him get rid of her using the same method as he had used on the men. There was nothing left of her save for her clothes and what she came here in.

"And where's her car?" It hadn't been out front. "She drove here in one."

That question stopped Rick dead at the door. "We must have missed seeing them move it. We were kind of preoccupied with picking up Alexis, my mother, and your dad."

Kate wasn't done yet. "What about cars? The men's cars have to be around here somewhere. Does your dissolving liquid work on cars?" If they hurried they could disintegrate them, too.

"Just flesh," he answered. It was why he stripped everything off of the bodies, after all.

"Let's take care of what we can. You clean the two bedrooms while I police the yard." He opened the door and continued outside.

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It took a couple of hours but soon people were swarming all over their house while Sheriff Brady asked them the same questions all over again along with some new ones. That kept them so busy that they had no time to review what they had gotten off of the last man.

It wasn't until late in the day that they finally found themselves alone. Kate fell onto the sofa next to Castle and let out a heavy sigh. "Well they didn't arrest us." She counted that as a win.

"They didn't have anything on us. Someone they can't find shot at our house. The boat's in tiny pieces as is whoever was on it. About the story that someone saw a giant dragon… Who's going to believe that, and where is it now?" Rick was thinking they were in the clear.

"They're going to find all those cars eventually." Kate still saw trouble.

"None of which are on this property, including Gina's car." Not that he had any idea where it was.

"It's probably in the news by now," Kate said, meaning their element of surprise with who sent them was likely gone.

"Let's find out who our man is and who sent him," Rick suggested and pulled the device out of his left wristband.

Together they read the display. "Cole Maddox, ex-special forces, highly skilled, and highly trained. Looks like he's now a hired killer. So the big question, does he know who sent him?" Rick and Kate kept reading.

Kate read the name. "Senator William H. Bracken." Rick was immediately up and off the sofa. "Where are you going?"

"To get my laptop. I want to find out who this man is and where he is," Rick replied and went into his office.

"Let's see, Senator William H. Bracken." He spoke the name as he typed. "That explains why your book focused on that senate building. He was in it at the time. That doesn't explain why he wants us dead, though." He and Kate were still in the dark about that.

Rick tried to reason it out. "Okay, what's the one thing we both have in common?" Kate grinned. He popped her bubble. "Besides that."

Kate lost her grin and tried to think. "My mom?" She knew Kate Beckett was fixated on who had killed her.

"Okay, I'll bite. But how does your mother fit into the life of a senator?" He didn't see the connection.

"He wasn't always a senator and she was killed years ago. She found something, did something, knew something," Kate mused.

Rick wasn't sure how he could help. "I'm a hunter, not a detective."

"You don't need to hunt someone down by searching for where he or she is? That's a detective," she countered.

He refuted her thinking. "To kill them or capture them, yes. But they're wanted already. It's not up to me to determine why. I just hunt them then deal with them. You know," he continued, "we could just hunt him down and kill him. He's obviously guilty. He hired and sent killers to kill us. He even doubled this Maddox's normal fee. Kill him, dissolve him, and we live our lives free of him continuing to try," Rick suggested.

Kate thought about it. Snohbal had a small problem with it since she never thought of herself as evil. Kate Beckett was a cop and not a killer. She shook her head. "I can't."

He sighed heavily and fell back against the sofa. They couldn't just kill him and they couldn't ignore him. Bracken would continue to hire more people till he finally succeeded.

"We need a plan, Kate. Alexis, my mother, and your dad can't stay in hiding forever. They have lives to live. They're not going to stay in hiding for long," he warned. "It'll drive them crazy."

"Can we at least try and think of something before you kill him?" Kate understood that her Richard Castle was different. But that was part and parcel of what helped her to love him. She wasn't in love with him just because of Kate Beckett. Snohbal loved him, too.

"We still have about a week left of our suspension. We have all of the things they came here with. If we think of something we can maybe put their cell phones to use," Rick proposed.

"What did you do with it all, including their weapons?" Kate queried and smiled when Rick lifted his right wristband. She grinned smugly, "Let's see anyone find them now."

Kate thought for a moment then posed a question. "Can we make him panic in some way? One of us uses one of the cell phones and calls him before he finds out his man failed… again."

Rick considered it. "He's located in another state so he might not have heard anything yet."

They were interrupted when Kate's cell phone began to ring; she scrambled to find it. Looking at it, she sighed. "It's Esposito." She closed her eyes for a moment then answered it. "Hey, Espo."

"Beckett… what the hell's going on out there? You and Castle are all over the news. Something about weapons fire and a dragon." Weapons fire he could believe. After all it was Beckett they were talking about. But a dragon?

"Someone sprayed the house with a weapon. As for a dragon… Don't believe everything you hear, Espo. There are no such things." Kate covered the phone with her hand. "There are no such things in this world, right?" Castle shook his head.

"Leave it to you to turn a two week suspension into an adventure. One that's playing out all over the news here. Unless you two want to be trapped there for the next week I suggest you hightail it out of there. There are going to be news crews from the city out there soon," Espo warned.

Kate looked at Castle in shock. The media showing up was something they hadn't thought of. "Tell him we're leaving now. You'll call him back," Castle told her. He actually left her to go upstairs and pack for a couple of days.

"We're leaving now, Espo, gotta go… and thanks." Kate ended the call and ran up the stairs to get her things together.

The only problem was their car. It was still a few houses down so they crossed the same lawns as before, only this time carrying a couple suitcases. By the time they could see their car the first news van with a satellite dish on top drive by headed for their house. "Just keep walking," Rick advised.

He'd barely pulled out onto the road and turned the car back toward the city when two more went by. "Thank you, Espo," Kate whispered.

"It's time we made Senator Bracken nervous." Rick took out the cell phone they got off of Maddox and handed it to Kate. "Think of something." Then he offered an idea of what to say. "Tell him his men are dead and the press is going to be all over him in a minute after they trace Maddox back to him."

Kate stared at the phone. "But there aren't any bodies." Castle had gotten rid of them.

"Yeah, but he doesn't know that. We want him nervous, maybe even panicking. Those kinds of people tend to make mistakes. Mistakes that come back to bite them," Rick countered. He concentrated on driving, seeing more and more cars headed the other direction, along with another two news vans.

Kate took a deep breath. Opening the phone she dialed the only number listed.

"Report," the male voice on the other end ordered.

"Your men are dead, Senator Bracken, and all the information the local police found on Maddox is going to lead straight to you. You made a mistake."

"Detective Beckett." He truly was shocked to hear her voice. However, he knew Maddox would have nothing about him on him; he recognized a bluff when he heard one. "I've underestimated you.

Kate knew that tone of voice and raised the stakes. "You think I'm bluffing? You're sitting in your office in DC inside the Russel Senate Building making secret phone calls to have people killed. You have a lot of blood on your hands, Bracken. More than you can ever wash off, no matter how hard you try." She ended the call and glanced at Castle.

"Throw it out the window and onto the road, we don't need it anymore." He watched her roll down the window and toss it behind them. It landed on the other side of the road and was instantly run over by the first car. Followed soon after by another, then another.

"Where are we going?" The loft was out, the Hamptons was gone.

"Only one place to go. The Russel Senate Building. We're going to put a little more pressure on Senator Bracken." Kate stared at him like he had lost his mind. Rick tried to calm any fears she might have. "Not to worry, Kate. I'm not going to kill him. We're just going to shake him up a little," he grinned wickedly.

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Kate took a quick peek at Castle. He was curled up against the passenger door, sleeping. Even in his sleep he was so cute. She could see his eyelids moving wildly and his lips looked to be moving a little. Whatever the dream was he was reacting to it.

He had taken something out of his bag in the back seat, wadded it up, and was using it as a pillow. Shifting her attention back to the road, she saw a sign. They were just outside of Baltimore. Interstate 295 had turned into Interstate 95. Castle had driven till they reached Wilmington where she convinced him to let her take over and let him rest.

The traffic through Baltimore had been hell. They barely moved while Castle slept. Her growling stomach had gotten her attention but she hated the idea of getting off and finding something. Getting back on the Interstate might be even worse so she kept driving. Well, crawling actually.

She was approaching an off ramp for Interstate 495 and the blue signs on the side of the road said there was gas. That, they definitely needed. There was also food. Chevys Fresh Mex, TGI Friday's, and IHOP looked to be the best choices.

Kate found that getting to Chevys was a little more of a challenge than she'd anticipated. It was right next to the IHOP, though, and out in front of Greenway Center. It was anchored by a Safeway. "Ooo, a Starbucks." Part of her craved to go there while part of her had no idea why. "Castle." She poked him. Nothing. "Castle." She poked him again and watched him slowly wake up.

"I'm starving so I stopped at a Chevys Fresh Mex. Is that okay? They have a Starbucks just over there, we can get coffee before we get back on the road."

Rick was awake by the time they were walking to the front door of Chevys. "I have to pee, be right back." Kate hurried off and Castle followed her, only he went in the men's room.

*\/X\/*

"I hope the house in the Hamptons is still there," Rick remarked quietly.

"Me too, I liked that place." It started her blood boiling. Bracken and his killers had ruined their two week suspension. Even worse she and Rick hadn't had sex for at least 24 hours. "When do you need to take another shot?" Kate was hoping to get really close to him soon.

"Tomorrow if I remember correctly. Missing my talented fingers already?" he teased.

"Shut-up, yes… and your lips," she confessed and leaned over the table to get closer. "I want you."

"We'll find a hotel in DC somewhere." Rick smiled broadly and Kate stuck her tongue out at him which had him chuckling softly.

He took out one of his credit cards to pay for the bill, only to have Kate stop him. "They can trace your credit card activity. Pay with cash. We're also going to need gas soon." She dug through her wallet to see how much cash she had on hand. Castle, it turned out, had an even $2,000 in cash on him. "You carry $2,000 in cash?" She didn't have anywhere near that much.

"Why wouldn't I?" Rick replied. "We're going to need more, though. If we find a bank maybe I can make a withdrawal and not use a card." He was hoping it would be harder to trace.

Kate was sipping her coffee and started to moan at the taste as Rick drove. A quick question had directed them to Rick's nearest bank branch so that he could access his account without having to use a card.

"See anything you like yet?" He was driving down one of the downtown streets of DC and had already passed a few hotels. Glancing at her he saw she was shaking her head slowly.

He made a turn that must have been the right one. Kate was pointing. "Castle, what about that one?" _Homewood Suites by Hilton, Washington DC Convention Center_

Rick pulled up next to it. It was certainly the biggest building in the area. "Why?" Not that he hated it. It certainly looked modern and nice enough.

"Suites suggests it has a kitchen so we can cook and it looks nice but not so expensive that we'll use up the cash that we have," Kate answered, trying her best to be practical.

It made sense to him so they went inside. The lobby had really light wood floors, high ceilings, a light blue sofa, and white and cream chairs with a blue rug. There was a lone African American man at the desk.

A quick look around before going over to him showed them that it had a restaurant with lots of seating. There were coffee pots next to a large fireplace with a cheery fire burning. Rick studied it. "Gas or some type of burning liquid."

The place was nice but not fancy. The clerk was pleasant, efficient, and took their money for their two night stay. Twice the amount got him to overlook the need for a credit card. He told them when breakfast was ready, what amenities the hotel had.

They selected a one bedroom unit and yes, it came with a mini kitchen complete with everything they would need. The room and the kitchen were cleaned daily.

They found themselves on the 8th floor. Just inside the door was a small dining table for two. Beyond that was a sofa with a cabinet that had a TV on it. Across the room were two mauve chairs in front of a wall of windows. Floor to ceiling windows. It gave them a perfect view of the street below and the building across the street.

To the right was a small kitchen: refrigerator, microwave, two burner electric cooktop, dishwasher, sink, toaster, coffee maker, cabinets, and drawers. Opening everything showed them it did indeed have everything they would need to cook a meal. Along with detergent for the dishwasher.

The bedroom had just the one big bed. There was an accent wall of dusty eggplant, a very large padded headboard, bedside tables, white linens, and a comforter.

The bathroom was simple enough, nothing like the bathrooms in the house in the Hamptons, but it would do.

They dropped their bags on the bed. "What's first?" Kate inquired since he was the hunter and had she didn't know how many gadgets he had in his wristbands.

"We walk. We need to scout the area and know how to get around. We'll go visit the Russel Senate Building and set up our spies." Like Kate, Rick had pulled in all of his spies that were at the Hamptons.

"Yours can go across the street and watch our hotel. Mine can watch the Senate Building. We need to see him come and go, hopefully." He also had another plan but kept it to himself since it was highly likely she wasn't going to like it.


	19. Chapter 19

**Doppelgänger 19**

"What are we doing here in the middle of the night?" Kate knew Bracken was likely not going be here this early in the morning. Only security was going to be here.

"Just to get a real look instead of what my spies see. Plus I need to be close to do this." Rick retrieved a weapon she had never seen before. This one required two hands to hold it. He fired it three times in quick succession and she didn't hear a thing except the sound of what he fired hitting something. Then just as quickly it was gone.

"What was that?" It didn't appear that he did anything since nothing happened.

"Explosives on a remote detonation. We can go." Rick turned around and started to leave.

"Explosives?" Kate actually was shocked. "Castle, we can't just go killing people." Neither Snohbal nor Kate wanted anything to do with that.

"They're not large enough to kill anyone. Maybe a few scratches is all. They're just meant to scare him. Tell him we're watching, that we're close and can kill him when we choose."

It made her feel better but accidents could still happen. "No one dies, Castle. You may be a hunter but on this world you're a writer."

"And you're a cop," he countered, continuing to walk. A cop that wanted revenge in the name of justice.

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Come morning Rick watched Bracken leave his chauffeur-driven car and enter the building, right along the path he had planted his explosives. "Care to be tourists for the day?" Rick asked Kate after they had their free breakfast. He found them an all day tour on a large Gray Line bus tour. Best of all it was only $65US per person.

 _You can see all of D.C.'s most well-known monuments and attractions in the same day on this tour of the nation's capital. Stop at 7 key landmarks, including a tour of the United States Capitol building and visit the Lincoln, Vietnam, and Korean War Memorials._

 _After visiting the Capitol for your tour, head to the White House's stately South Lawn for a photo opportunity and a stop at the White House Visitor Center. From here, proceed to the new World War II Memorial, where you can admire this beautiful structure and its impressive water works._

 _End your day-tour with a stop to revere many key national memorials. The Lincoln Memorial and reflecting_ _pool_ _is a place where many historical events have been held; the marble-likeness of President Lincoln towers at 19 feet high. Climb up the steps to the Memorial to view President Lincoln's Gettysburg address inscribed on the walls and take in stunning views of the reflecting pool and adjacent Vietnam War, Korean War, World War II Memorials._

 _Throughout your comprehensive tour, you can admire the landmarks along the route that populate the D.C. cityscape. Watch for the FBI building, the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial, the tree-lined Tidal Basin, the towering Washington Monument, and the impeccably maintained United States Botanic Garden as you pass through the capital._

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"That was nice, Castle." Kate had enjoyed the tour and lifted up to kiss him, only to be stopped. She was hurt and didn't understand. They had made love to each other this morning and Kate had kissed him. Kissed a lot of him actually along with swallowing every last drop of his come.

"I need to find a place to take my shot," Rick reminded her. Neither of them wanted him to die from her kiss.

"Oh, good plan." She hugged him instead.

They were on the elevator on the way up to their room. "Bracken is leaving," Rick said.

"And?" Was he going to use his explosives now?

"And now I use my spies to follow him all the way home," he told her just before exiting the elevator.

"So we'll know where he lives and what he does." Kate got it and liked this part of his plan.

He sat on the sofa, removed a device from his left wristband, and created a shot followed by giving it to himself in the right thigh. Then he replaced it and took out a different device.

Kate sat down next to him knowing that she could kiss him now. "What's this?"

"Video so you can watch where our good Senator goes and does," Rick explained. She watched it fold out to show three different screens, each with a similar look as they followed the car.

Rick directed his spies so they could observe Bracken go inside and then they saw them scramble all over the building till he was spotted through one of the windows.

"Now we know where he works and where he lives." Rick was pleased. He left one at a different window looking inside and one far outside watching the outside of the building while the rest were still at his office.

He retracted the device into his wristband. "Hungry? I was thinking of eating near his home." Rick started smiling and it had Kate grinning. Kate Beckett didn't remember Castle being like this, however, Snohbal was learning to love this version.

Rick parked the car and they walked to the corner. He pointed out their options. "Mexican is back that way, Chinese is that way, and his gated apartment is that way."

"Is he still home?" Kate had already made her choice as to what was to be first.

"Yes, why?" Rick could actually see him sitting there drinking alcohol after having poured himself a glass.

"You're going to plant those little explosives of yours near his home, aren't you?" She was learning how this Rick worked. His smile told Kate all she needed to know. "This way first." She chose the direction to his apartment first before dinner.

It was a few minutes' walk to get close enough. They had to wait for anyone to not be looking their direction. In an instant Rick had his weapon out, fired three rounds, then put it away.

After that they went back the way they'd come with Kate turning toward the Chinese place.

"What's the plan?" She was wondering how he was planning on using those explosives.

"We're going to wait for him to reach his office, then when no one is around I'll blow the ones at his work. They will naturally…"

Kate interrupted him. "Force an evacuation which will require that he leave the building and go home." She was thinking that the next set of explosions would happen the second he got home.

"Then his apartment building will be evacuated leaving him to decide where to go next. And my spies will follow him all the way. Then we repeat at his new location. And again, and again." Rick was smiling at his little plan.

"What's the end game? I mean, scaring him is one thing, but how do we get him to stop forever? If he's responsible for my mother's murder, he needs to rot in jail. So how do we get him there?" This might be fun, but how did it help them?

"And I threw that phone away," she reminded him. It meant they had no way to contact him.

"Oh, that won't be a problem. After he finds yet another home we're going to blow up his car. He'll find a way to contact you. That's when you make your demand." Rick shared his end result.

"Which is? Wait, are you suggesting that he'll turn himself in for all the people he has killed? That absolutely will not happen, Castle. If anything he'll hire even more people to find my dad, Alexis, and Martha." Kate didn't see him turning himself in, ever.

Rick was still smiling, though. "What?" He obviously knew something.

"I'm a hunter, Kate. I've got 2 wristbands full of toys used to monitor someone I'm chasing. Or devices I can leave behind so I can see or hear all kinds of things. Like when he orders a hit on you or me after he's had enough. Or on our families," he explained patiently.

"Then we hand that recording over to someone who knows what to do with it. His political career will be over. They'll turn his life inside out looking for what he's done." Hearing that had Kate smiling in relief that sometime soon all of this might be over.

"How long is this going to take. Dad, Alexis, and Martha are probably already worried. If we're on the news they might have seen it, too." Did they have the time to do all this?

"We'll call them soon, or go see them if he runs to New York to get away or hire his killers." That made Kate feel better.

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 **This section is rated M. Reader discretion is advised.**

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Kate drowsily opened her eyes and shifted a little in bed. What she found made her hum. She was naked and curled up next to an equally naked Castle. She ran her hand over his chest and cast her eyes south, smiling at what she found. Even after four rounds of sex last night, he had an erection this morning. Since she didn't want it to go to waste she started stroking the lips of her core so that she would be wet. Just the idea of him being inside her again was helping. Then she saw his cock twitch of its own accord and she rose up to straddle him. "You're mine, Castle, all mine." Feeling his hard cock slowly enter her as she lowered herself down on him was pure pleasure.

She slowly raised herself only to slowly lower herself, moving up and down on his hard cock. She closed her eyes and moaned. She lowered herself so that she could kiss him while grinding herself on his erection. "Fuck me, Castle. I need you," Kate whispered in his ear.

She suddenly squealed when in an instant she was on her back with him above her. "As the lady wishes." Rick reached for her legs and started to push them toward her head. He rammed his erection into her causing her to gasp from the burst of pleasure. Kate put her hands on either side of his face. "Fuck me, Castle. Make me yours."

She was ready for the next step in their relationship and this would cement that step.

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Kate was still naked only this time she was lying on a naked Castle, running her fingers across his chest. She could feel his come inside her. Soon now, very soon.

"Happy?" Kate questioned.

"Very," Rick replied.

"Love me?" Kate questioned.

"More than you may ever know," Rick replied.

"You're mine?" Kate questioned.

"Yes," Rick replied.

"Hmm, all mine." Kate was content and fell asleep on his chest.

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She opened her eyes and tried to focus. She found an almost dressed Castle sitting on the edge of the bed. "Come back to bed, Rick. We can make love again." Kate tried her best bedroom voice to entice him to take his clothes off and make love to her.

"Bracken's up, out of his car, and entering the building already," he told her without turning around.

That got Kate up. She pressed her chest into his back while she stroked his shoulders, kissed his neck, then wrapped her arms around him. "I could learn to hate him." She wanted to be made love to, not get to work on his plan.

Rick faced her. "We may be busy for a few days, depending on how he reacts," he cautioned.

Kate laid her cheek against his back and breathed him in. "Then I'd best get dressed. It smells like you've showered without me." She could tell that he was fresh and smelled a little like body wash.

"Better make it fast, it's going to be a busy day." Rick watched her sway her hips on the way to the bathroom. She smiled; she could feel his eyes on her naked ass. Since she was alone in the shower she made it quick. She dried herself and came back into the bedroom stark naked to find some clothes. She found him sitting at the table with his three screens watching what his spies could see.

"Anything?" Kate tossed a bra and panties on the bed and began searching for slacks and a top.

"I don't know where he gets his luck," Rick grumbled. "Every time I think the place is clear, someone walks into the area." He was pissed. It just kept happening.

"People are coming into work; once that stops you should have a chance." She knew it would happen, he just had to be patient.

She had her panties on and was just getting her bra into place. "Detonating," he called. In an instant they could hear and just barely feel the rumble of his explosives.

She was soon dressed and standing behind him with her hands on his shoulders, watching his screens. They both watched as fire trucks arrived along with several police units and something she'd forgotten might happen. "Those look like FBI or maybe Secret Service," Kate commented. "They'll pick that place apart in an attempt to determine the explosive used and hopefully get a lead on who planted them."

Rick shook his head. "It won't get them anywhere." He kept on watching. "Here comes our boy, with an escort." They watched as Bracken and one other man were escorted out of the building and into waiting cars by armed men. Rick wasn't interested in the other guy and only followed where Bracken went. "Looks like he's going home. Maybe we'll get lucky." Rick really wanted to scare him.

"Come on, _come on._ Walk faster." They saw someone come out of the apartment building as Bracken approached it.

"We're not trying to kill him, babe," Kate cautioned.

"I'm not going to. However, I do want him to feel this one. To know that he walked right by it and was almost killed," Rick explained.

He decided that it was clear enough to set off one of them and they saw an area near Bracken explode. Both men dropped to the ground. The other guy, who was farther away, was up faster and ran away.

It allowed Rick to detonate the other two just as Bracken started to get up. The new explosions had him dropping back to the ground. He struggled to stand and staggered toward the building away from the explosions.

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It was lunchtime and neither of them had left the room yet, nor had they had breakfast. Instead they watched what Castle's little spies showed them.

There were more fire trucks, more police, and this time there was no mistaking the FBI and Secret Service agents that were all over the apartment building.

The street was closed for blocks while traffic was diverted. Kate pointed to one of his screens. "He's moving." Rick came over to sit down and handed Kate her cup of coffee.

Suddenly he had an idea. "Go pack and grab your bag, we're leaving. I want to be out in front of him. If we get lucky we can isolate his car and explode another device near it as he escapes the city." Kate smiled and kissed his head before she strode to the bedroom to pack her and his bags. She came back out of the bedroom carrying both. Rick took his and they left their keys at the front desk.

"How long can your spies keep flying?" Kate inquired when her little owl flew down to her so she could put him away for now.

"That's where it gets tricky. I'm going to need to have only one out at a time and switch between them so I can recharge each one before using it again." Rick had his limitations as did some of his items.

"Then I'm driving." She held out her hand for the keys and grinned at him. The drive to New York started out rather busy but got easier the farther out of DC they got.

They had been driving for a little while when Castle rolled down a window and out went one of his little boxes followed by one coming in. Then he tossed something out the window and rolled it back up.

"What was that?" She had an idea but wanted to hear it from him.

"I thought I saw an opening so I dropped a small explosive charge," Rick explained; it was just what Kate was thinking he had done.

She was beginning to believe it was a waste of time. "Get ready." He didn't want her to be surprised when it exploded.

Only a moment later she sort of heard it but could definitely see the cloud of dust in her rear view mirror. "How close?" The idea was to scare him, not kill him.

"Two car lengths. You can slow down a little. We don't need to be too far out in front of him," Rick cautioned and saw a traffic pile up form behind the explosion. That gave him an opening and he took it. He rolled the window down and tossed out another charge followed by another a few minutes later which was followed by yet another. In all he dropped four more several minutes apart.

"There's very little to no traffic behind him," Rick remarked. Kate glanced at him. It meant he could really shake him up without worrying much about other cars.

What neither of them saw because they were too far out in front was the other side of the highway slowing down to gawk at what had taken place. Rick was about to give them even more at which to gawk.

"Get ready," he warned just before he exploded the first of four.

By the time he had exploded the second one, Kate cautioned, "I've got a lot of cars coming up behind me."

"They're probably fleeing the devastation happening behind them. Try and stay out in front of them. But don't over do it. After all, you don't understand what's going on behind you." He did his best to make sure they blended in with the other traffic making them less likely to be pulled over.

After the third one blew, he said, "Bracken's car has sped up considerably. I'm not sure if I'm going to get to use the last one when he's close." Rick knew he couldn't leave it behind for someone to find, so he had to activate it.

It turned out he was correct. Bracken had sped up to the point that he was now in the midst of a number of cars. "I think he might be using the other cars as shields." Rick detonated the last one far behind him.

"It sounds like something he would order. Saving his own skin no matter who has to pay the price." Kate was really starting to hate Bracken.

A few moments passed and a Highway Patrol car went zooming by them going the opposite direction. This was very shortly followed by a pair of fire engines then by a county sheriff's car.

Sometime later they were approaching the outskirts of New York City. "Slow down, way down. Let Bracken get out in front of us." Rick watched her do just that. Kate didn't understand why, except maybe he had run out of spies. Or wanted to see his car perhaps? It took some time but Bracken was now three car lengths out in front of them with no car between them.

Rick rolled down his window and pointed a weapon at his car. "Castle!" He wasn't going to do what she thought he was… was he? She saw two tiny objects race out in front of them and hit the back of Bracken's car, after which Rick rolled up the window.

"What _was_ that?" She wanted to be involved in everything, not just somethings.

"One was a combination mic and tracker. It's so we can hear what's said inside the car from here on out as well as follow it without the need of my spies. I don't want them to be spotted when we reach the city," Rick explained; it made sense to her. Plus she was dying to hear what Bracken was saying about all this.

"And the other?" What else had he done?

"It's a small explosive device. I plan on using it after he has parked and exited the car. One last scare." Rick turned to look at her and grinned. She grinned right back at him.

So far no one had been hurt; hopefully Bracken was running scared.


	20. Chapter 20

**Doppelgänger 20**

It was a school day. Alexis came down the stairs, happy to be home. Neither her dad nor Kate had been overly forthcoming about why they could come home now. She hadn't missed much school so she was happy.

"Dad, Kate." She found both of them in the kitchen and watched as Kate jerked her arms back to herself from being around her dad. She grinned at the sight.

Alexis, Martha, and Jim had indeed seen the news and knew that their house in the Hamptons had been shot at, though the shooters, their weapons, or any other evidence couldn't be found save for the rounds that had been dug out of the house. Then there was the amazing report of there being a dragon.

That wasn't in the news so much anymore. What was still in the news were the explosions on the highway between DC and New York. That the car for the New York Senator had been destroyed in an explosion was also still in the news.

However, what was believed to have been overheard by a paparazzo was at the top of the news. Who he was talking to and who he was talking about was still a mystery. But there was no mistake that he had made a call and had put out a hit on two people that he had left unnamed. He had offered double their normal amount if they finished the job by the end of the week.

How this had been obtained made it inadmissible in court, nevertheless that didn't stop all of the news organizations going over everything the good senator had done since the day he was born. It seemed new items came out during the last two newscasts. In fact, the morning shows for each of the major networks were dedicated to all things Bracken.

The most recent news leak was that the FBI was now investigating not just the explosions on the road, the destruction of his car, but also what had been recorded.

Senator Bracken had of course been spending his time denying anything and everything that was in the press that spoke badly about him. It was all lies and labeled as _fake news_ by the Senator.

Alexis sat down at the counter in the loft, happy to be home. "Breakfast?" Rick inquired.

She shook her head. "Information." It was what she wanted most at the moment.

It was just what he and even Kate were dreading most. They both knew she, Martha, and Jim deserved answers. They had no idea what kind of answers they could give them, though.

"You can't tell us… can you?" Alexis thought she already knew the answer, just not why. The look of pain on both of their faces was her answer. "He actually did something, didn't he?"

"Yes, Alexis, he did. That and worse. It's proving it…" Kate still didn't know how they were going to prove it and get justice for her mother.

"So what happens next?" Alexis was guessing that since they had come and gotten them and they were all back home that it was safe again.

"Next… Next we keep trying to find out his secrets," Rick said.

"And you two think we're safe now?" Alexis wasn't sure how. She did trust her dad, though, and Kate was a cop. So neither of them were likely to be doing anything illegal. Dangerous, yes. Illegal, not so much.

"He can't touch us or our family. If something happens to any of us now, everyone will blame him. Whatever plan he had will end when he does that." Kate and Castle had done a lot of talking over the last few hours.

"So what are you two going to be doing?" Alexis wanted to keep them from doing something stupid or illegal. She was actually starting to think Kate could be her next stepmother, hopefully the last one.

"Why nothing, nothing at all." Rick tried to look trustworthy. Plus they really didn't have any plans to do anything else except wait. Which pretty much equaled doing nothing.

Alexis wasn't buying any of it and glared at the two of them.

"I'm… I'm just going to go check on my phone." Kate pointed to the master bedroom where she had finally plugged in her dead cell phone. She blamed it being dead on not knowing any better. There were still a few things about this world that she had to learn.

She backed up slowly, never taking her eyes off of Alexis till she turned and walked as fast as she could to get away from that glare. _"Alexis can be scary sometimes."_

Kate retreated, leaving Rick with Alexis concentrating her glare on him.

"I'm…" Rick pointed to where Kate went only to see Alexis intensify her glare. He changed his mind and tried to endure the glower of his daughter. "I, ah… I think I'll sit right here." He was actually starting to sweat and was wondering if somehow _his_ Alexis had somehow taken her place. His Alexis was certainly capable of it.

He was saved when Kate came charging back into the room carrying her cell phone out in front of her. "CASTLE!" She shoved her phone into his chest.

Startled, Rick took it and started scrolling through the numerous texts that were on it, beginning with the one at the top. He looked at questioningly. "Lanie?"

"Not that one, the other ones." Kate yanked the phone out of his hand, scrolled to the more important ones, and slapped it back into his hand.

He read the very first one along with the 11 others that followed it. "We have to go." Rick was catching up to what Kate had just found out.

"You think?!" Kate snatched the phone out of his hand when her phone received yet another text.

"It's from Roy, he wants us at some airport. He's sent an address." She handed the phone back to him.

"Laptop, I need my laptop." Rick briskly walked to his study. Anything to get away from Alexis glaring at him.

Unfortunately that left Kate to endure the glare of Alexis. "I'm… I'm just going to…" She pointed to where Rick had retreated and started backing up till she turned to walk quickly away.

"Alexis can be scary," she admitted and peered over Castle's shoulder to see what he was looking at.

"It's a small private airport outside of the city. Small planes and helicopters only." Rick kept reading.

"Why there?" Kate didn't get it. If he had something to say or wanted something, why leave the city?

"Kate." He really didn't know how to say this. "The hunter in me and even the writer tells me that this is a trap. Either someone has him and is using his phone, or…" Rick trailed off and looked at her. She looked back at him waiting for him to finish. He sighed. "Or he's in on it. Either because he wants to be or he's being coerced into doing it."

"We're talking about my boss, Castle. I've… Kate Beckett has known him for years. He wouldn't, he just wouldn't." Kate staunchly defended him because of Kate Beckett's memories.

"Okay, say it's not him, but it's still a trap. Involved or not, it _is_ his phone." Rick knew what he knew and felt. Then he had a thought. "Roy has a family doesn't he?"

Suddenly it all started to make sense to her. "Bracken… he couldn't get to us or our families so he's using someone else. But he's being watched almost 24 hours a day. There are reporters and paparazzi with cameras all over him." Kate didn't understand how Bracken could possibly be involved.

"Did your spies see anything?" She knew he'd split up his spies between his office and his apartment so it meant there were gaps in their coverage. Her owl was outside the loft watching.

Rick shook his head. If Bracken had done something he had done it where no one, including Rick, could see. Kate remembered something, though. They might be able to use it. "While I was with you in the Hamptons, I saw a man enter my apartment and leave little things behind. Each was much smaller than what you use."

"Interesting… They're monitoring your apartment." He thought it over. "We might be able to use that depending on how things go at the airport."

"So we're going, even if it's a trap." Kate wanted to make sure.

"Best way to learn something," Rick asserted.

" _Best way to get killed too_ _,_ _"_ Kate was thinking. She momentarily closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her boss was either involved or more likely, being used as bait.

"Castle, if Roy _is_ being used, what would be the best way to get him to do what you wanted? The same reason it would work on us maybe." Kate had an idea.

"His family's in danger or they already have them. So they get him to call you and get you to come out to a small airport. Or…" Rick had a thought.

"Or?" Kate wasn't following.

"Or he knows his family is in danger and wants you in an isolated location so he can talk. Talk where Bracken doesn't have anyone." It was yet another option.

"So what do we do? It's either a trap or it's not." There were only two options that she could see.

"You go, I follow. We treat it like it's a trap and Roy's part of it. To do otherwise is to underestimate Bracken which will get both of us killed. If Roy's clean in this then we apologize and compare notes." As far as Rick was concerned there was no choice but to treat it like it was a trap.

Kate started to leave to get ready. "I'll recall my owl."

"It might be best if it stays. I've scanned the loft and it's clean. But with us gone someone might come here to do what they did to your apartment," he cautioned. "I intend to leave one of my spies inside combined with yours outside."

"Do you still think Alexis, Martha, and my dad are safe? If they have Roy's family…" Maybe they were wrong.

"They may have taken his family before they came after us or at the same time. It's possible that Roy's being used now since Bracken can't risk going after us directly again. You didn't really think he would just give up, did you?" He could see worry written all over her face.

"A girl can dream. My dream of getting a new and better life got me here." Kate's smile trembled as she leaned down to kiss his cheek. "It got me you."

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"You sent your little spies already and we're an hour early… anything?" Kate sat in the passenger seat of the Ferrari on a residential street over a mile away.

She'd already questioned him about using the Ferrari. "Because it's faster than the Mercedes and if things go bad I prefer to have every benefit I can get," Rick answered.

"And you know how to drive this car to make it worth while?" After all, he wasn't Richard Castle; he came from a different planet that didn't even have cars anything like this one. His silence told her that speeding away in this car was likely not going to be the best plan.

"Anything outside the loft?" Alexis and Martha were home and Rick had seen them, though both were up in their rooms at the moment. Kate shook her head.

It was half an hour later. "I've got a car approaching the area. Better make that a car and an SUV. Each is coming from a different direction."

"How many?" Kate was wondering what they should do; she pulled out her dagger.

They had discussed her using it based on what they saw. "Zooming." His spies didn't have a scanning ability. They could simply hear, see, and smell.

"Looks like one in the car, that I can't identify yet. …And four in the SUV, I think. Based on movements everyone but the driver is preparing their weapons. It appears they each have a silencer on a fully automatic weapon. Clip size suggests 30 rounds per clip. Definitely our guys." Rick kept on watching where each car went.

"My dragon can turn their cars and them into ash." Using the dagger wasn't her first choice, but it would keep Roy alive.

Rick shook his head. "If I wanted I could attach an explosive from here, but if they have Roy's family and he's giving you up…" He didn't like the idea but it was still a possibility. He started the car but left the lights off and did his best not to use the brakes.

It was really tricky to pay attention to Roy's car, the SUV, and where he was going in the dark. Finally he stopped and set the parking brake. "We walk from here. Roy's in what is likely a small side room of that hangar there." Rick pointed.

"The SUV with our killers is parked a few planes down to the right. I haven't seen them exit the SUV yet. …Strike that, I've got one exiting and making his way forward," Rick informed her as they exited the car.

"They want to see you, so you go in through the main hangar opening. Give me a couple of minutes to get to the back of the building. I'll be right there," he assured her.

Kate grabbed hold of him and pulled his head down so she could kiss him. "Do not get yourself killed, Rick. I happen to like this life and I want to keep it." He smiled and started jogging for the back of the building.

Kate took a deep breath and began walking toward the front of the hangar. Once there, she saw a row of small planes parked out front but didn't see the man or the SUV. Looking inside she saw a small mostly white plane and a small red helicopter.

She walked inside and looked around then the sound of a door opening got her attention.

It was Roy who was walking out with a large revolver being held at his side. "Sir?" Kate was going to let him explain.

"I'm really sorry, Beckett, really sorry. I've done my best to protect you and my family…"

Kate interrupted him. "Bracken has your family, doesn't he?" She got right to the point and was sad but not surprised by the look of shock on his face. Snohbal could almost feel Kate Beckett screaming at him.

Roy couldn't believe it. How could she possibly know? Based on working with Kate for years and knowing how she operated, he was sure she would run right at him and get herself killed. Then it hit him. "That was you? All those explosions, including his car?" That didn't sound like the Kate he knew. He was thinking she would walk right up to him with a gun in her hand.

"Yes and no. You don't have to do this, Roy. We can help you." Kate slowly moved her hand over her service weapon at her side. "We can get them back and bring Bracken down."

Roy wanted to believe her, but his biggest fear had come to pass. His mistake so long ago had finally hurt his family and as much as he liked Kate, his family came first. He shook his head. "He has far more people at his disposal than you can believe. Far more money than you can begin to imagine." He had no choice but to get her here so they could take her.

Headlights told him that the time had come. He raised his weapon and pointed it at Kate. "I am sorry about this, Beckett, I really am. You're the best I've ever seen."

She wasn't sure where Rick was, but knew he was around here somewhere. They watched as the SUV stopped just at the entrance to the hanger and all four doors opened.

It was then that they heard three distinct sounds. It sounded like metal hitting metal.

Rick had changed weapons. He had his weapon out that would fire guided rounds to hit each person. Instead he changed to a larger weapon and had fired three rounds. One hit each side of the front of the SUV while the third hit the driver's door.

A moment later all three rounds exploded, taking the SUV and the four men with it. Rick quickly withdrew that weapon and went back to the other weapon. He pointed it at Roy and got a scan of him. All he had to do was pull the trigger and Roy's mind would be turned into cottage cheese.

Roy and Kate had cringed from the explosion, now both were standing more erect. While Kate was looking at Roy, Roy was staring at the charred remains of the SUV.

"We can help you, Roy," Rick called out. Roy spun and pointed his weapon at Rick. "Don't make me kill you, Roy. Let us help you get your family back," Rick pleaded.

Rick's distraction allowed Kate to draw her service weapon and point it at him. Then she slowly put it away. She really did want him alive and decided she would attempt to charm him if he didn't get rid of his weapon.

"Make your choice, Roy." Rick added a fractional amount of pressure to his trigger. Another fraction and Roy would lose his mind.

Kate called out her captain's name and started stepping closer to him. Rick wanted to warn her to stop but held his tongue.

"Put the weapon away, Roy." She did her best to charm him to do as she commanded. "Think of your family and put it away."

He was married with children so she doubted he would kiss her, so she stuck with just a simple charm spell. If he had been trying to protect Kate all this time then he would probably continue helping her now. "We can get them back, put the weapon away." At this point she was standing right in front of him. If he fired his weapon he wouldn't miss her.

She was a succubus; she was betting on what she was and what she could do.


	21. Chapter 21

**Doppelgänger 21**

Her spell had worked to perfection. Roy had handed over his weapon. They'd met him at his car where Kate had given him his weapon back. They'd run to their car and were presently following him to his house.

Something was nagging at Rick. "Have you ever done that to me? Charmed me like you did him?" He didn't think that she had, but had she done it earlier when they first met?

"No babe, I would never." Kate looked at him. "I want what we have to be between us; I want it to be real. If I charm you it will only be real for you and I don't want that. Please believe me." She was telling the truth – she hadn't _charmed_ him.

Hearing that, he relaxed until he remembered something else. "You've done something else, though, haven't you? I can almost feel it." Charming someone wasn't the only thing a succubus could do.

She was taking too long to answer; Rick glanced at her. "Kate… Snohbal?"

She hung her head; a tear escaped and traveled down her cheek. "I didn't want you to leave me for another woman," she wept. "A more beautiful woman. So I asked you if you would bind yourself to me. It means that you won't ever be involved with another woman. And I asked, I didn't command you." Kate could feel her heart pounding like a drum.

He was still free to reject her, after all. And commanding someone to do something was another of her innate powers. It was just harder for her to get that person to do what she commanded.

"Castle, Rick… talk to me. If it helps, I reversed it and bound myself to you. There's no other male that I want or can now have. You're it for me." Rick was hers and she was now his.

Rick began to squeeze the steering wheel harder and harder until his knuckles started to turn white. Then she said something that he only caught part of since he'd stopped listening after she'd said yes. "You bound yourself to me?" He turned his head back to look at her. What had she done?

More tears escaped but she felt her heart start to repair itself in the hope that he wasn't that angry with her. "I'm yours; I want to be only yours. I don't want anyone else but you. Remember where I came from… This is me, all of me." She'd handed over her life to him while at the same time trying to make sure she didn't lose him.

Rick parked in front of Roy's house; neither of them were watching him. Rick was staring out into space while Kate was staring at Rick. "Kate Beckett loved you. …Loves you. I love you, both of you." She meant Richard Castle and Richard Rodgers.

"Can you undo it?" He wasn't sure that was what he wanted, but he needed to know his options. Richard Castle was so deeply in love with Kate Beckett that it was impossible to ignore. He'd learned to love the new Kate Beckett who was actually a blend of Kate and Snohbal. But then he was a blend, as well, if he was being honest.

His question made her heart sink. He wanted out. He didn't love her. "Yes… if you want." She could release him even if her heart wouldn't let her release herself from him.

"Let's go inside; we need to see if there are clues as to who took his family and to where," Rick said abruptly then opened the car door.

"Castle!" Kate reached across to take hold of his arm. "Rick?" She didn't want to be left in limbo.

"I need to think. To process everything. I'm not saying no but I'm not saying yes, either."

Kate felt marginally better. He hadn't rejected her outright and she still held onto the hope that her spell binding them wouldn't let him cut ties with her. Still the fact that he was fighting against her spell even a little tore at her.

She wiped her face then followed Rick to the front door where Roy was waiting, though her mind and heart were no longer in this. What she wanted to do at the moment was grab him and either shake some sense into him or kiss him senseless. Or both. She'd willingly bound herself to him and thought that her spell had bound him to her. Now she wasn't so sure.

"Kate… Kate." Rick waved his hand in front of her face and saw her eyes snap to him. She only saw Rick and didn't see Roy. Had she been out of it that long?

"Kate… Snohbal, I'm not rejecting you… us. I just need some time to process what your spell means to me. I get what you've done to me and to yourself. I guess what hurts is that you didn't talk to me about it first. Didn't give me a chance to agree to it or reject it." Rick was thinking the latter was what hurt the most.

"I'm sorry, I just… I can't lose you. Neither of us can." Snohbal had no trouble feeling what Kate felt for him and how much it would hurt to lose him.

Rick stepped in and wrapped his arms around her, feeling her melt into him. "I'm not rejecting _US._ I just need time to decide if I want to be bound to anyone, including you." He kissed her forehead and pushed her back a step, just enough to look at her. "For the record I have no intention of cheating on you, now or in the future. There's no one more beautiful in my eyes than you. Well, save Alexis, maybe. My Alexis." He knew his Alexis still had him wrapped around her little finger and always would.

Kate smiled a watery smile. It helped her heart that he wasn't rejecting her, just the being bound part. It didn't change her willingness to be bound to him at all.

"Go find Roy and see what he has while I scan the house." Rick kissed her forehead again and got out another of his devices.

Kate found Roy sitting at his desk with a thick NYPD folder on his desk in front of him. He seemed to be staring at it like it either didn't exist or was his worst nightmare come true.

"What's this?" She spun it around so she could read it and began turning pages. Several heartbeats later, she exploded. _"YOU KNEW?_ All this time and you knew," she accused him hotly and kept turning pages.

"You don't understand…"

Kate interrupted him, her voice cutting like a knife. "What don't I understand, Roy? You knew who killed my mother all this time. All these years and you said nothing. Looked right at me and lied." She kept turning pages and came to a single realization.

It didn't let Roy off the hook, but what he had done didn't sit well with her or Kate Beckett. "You've got almost nothing. Nothing that would get him convicted. Ruin his political career, yes, but there's nothing in here about him ordering anyone killed." Kate was still fuming but was starting to calm down.

"I thought it would protect my family… and you. So long as he thought what I had could ruin him he left both of us alone." Then a thought hit him. Kate was pointing a gun at his head. She was mad to be sure but not furious enough given the situation.

"How long have you known it was him?" Roy wasn't stupid; he had been years ago, maybe. But that was a different time and a different Roy Montgomery.

"Not long actually," Kate admitted since she and Rick had figured it out just a number of hours ago or was it days? "When did he take them? Before or after all the explosions that happened around him?" If it was after it meant he had a means to contact his killers that they didn't know about, which was likely.

"Before… You were involved in that." Roy wasn't questioning her, he was simply making a statement.

"No one was hurt, including him. We just wanted to make him afraid for his own life. He takes others' lives so easily; we wanted to see how he liked being on the other end for a change." Kate calmly defended their actions, even if what they'd done wasn't what Kate Beckett would've been a willing partner to.

"You don't know just how powerful he's gotten. I've been trying to protect you from him. He's ruthless and dangerous, Kate. Even more so now." He was far more powerful now than when her mother had gotten involved and a little too close.

"Well, he's short thirteen men now. The four you know about and another nine that you don't." Kate was reasonably certain she had the number right.

Roy looked at her shocked. _"THIRTEEN!"_ His mind couldn't believe the number. He knew Kate was good, but she wasn't a killer. Even killing Bracken in cold blood was something he was sure she would never do.

"Who are you?" This person didn't behave like the Kate Beckett he knew. He even cut her a little slack because Bracken had sent some of his men after her already. But something was off.

"Wait, _WE?_ Who's _WE?"_ Roy finally caught on to what she'd been saying.

Kate collected all of the papers and picked up the folder. "Don't move." She pointed right at him and tried to sound menacing.

She found Rick still downstairs; he was walking around with a device in his hand. "Put this in one of your wristbands." Kate handed the file to him and watched it disappear. "I don't suppose you have another one or two of those, do you?" She was becoming envious of his gadgets.

Rick shook his head then brought her up to speed on what had happened to Roy's family. "Three of them came after the Montgomerys. It looks like two went upstairs, probably to get the girls while one stayed with the mother. I can't ID them since I have nothing to compare it with." He'd found a few things that they'd left behind.

"Looks like the wife was roughed up a little right here." Rick had found blood that matched what he had scanned on Roy earlier. "There's a tiny amount of blood here and here." He gestured to spots on the floor.

"Six people in total not including a possible driver unless one of them was the driver. A large truck or SUV maybe. Or a van," Kate suggested even if it didn't get them much. This city was crawling with vehicles of that size. "They could have taken them anywhere." She didn't think they had gained much.

"No, but we have him running scared, hopefully. Plus now we have a bargaining chip." Rick lifted up his left wristband that held those documents.

"An exchange? He'll never go for it. He'd want to see just how damaging they were before even starting to think about handing them over. Plus he would just as sooner kill everyone before he did that." Kate didn't see how that was going to work.

"Then we need to prove just how damaging what we have really is. Besides, how many killers can he have access to?" Rick didn't see how he could have that many. He was a politician who simply had contacts. And eventually all those killers would need to be killed to keep them from talking if he wanted any kind of future.

"Roy is scared of him," Kate cautioned, thinking that he might have access to more than Rick was giving him credit. "So what do we do next?" She didn't see where they had much.

Rick began smiling; it gave her the creeps. "We've played with him using explosives, so now we play with his mind using the files we just got." He raised his eyebrows a couple of times but what he said did nothing to alleviate Kate's worries.

"We send him one page then send two or three news organizations the very same page at the same time. One page at a time till he finds out who else is getting the pages and demands a stop to it and an exchange. We just need to work out what we're going to do at this exchange. That and be ready to offer an alternate location to his." Rick was sure he was going to suggest a location that benefited Bracken and not them. It was what he would do.

"There's one more thing." Kate knew she should share, just didn't know what to do about it. "Roy asked me who I was. Like he didn't think I was Kate." She had made it past Alexis and Martha so far. Thankfully she hadn't spent much time around her dad for him to notice anything.

"We can deal with that later, first we need…" Rick was interrupted when Kate's cell phone pinged.

She fished it out and looked at the text. "Another message from Lanie. She's been sending them for days. I ignored them when we were in the Hamptons. But we're here now. And our two week suspension ends soon." Kate wasn't looking forward to trying to hide who she really was from people that knew her well. Lanie was obviously one of these people.

Rick pointed out the irony. "Suspended by the guy in the other room who's a part of this."

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It had only been two days. Somehow Rick had found a way to send a copy of a single page of the information that Roy had to different news organizations, one page every hour on the hour.

It didn't take long for all of them to try and out scoop the others. Several had teams outside of Bracken's known homes and offices. They even had teams outside of the capitol building. Others had added teams to ask questions during the White House briefings.

Every night, every morning, and every afternoon there was new news about a certain Senator Bracken who was having his life picked apart, piece by piece by piece. From the house he was born in, where he went to school, the teachers that he'd had. How he got his start in politics. Everyone was finding out the life of William H. Bracken. Who he had dated, who had turned him down. There were even questions circulating that he might be gay.

Tonight's news was a person who had tracked down what church Bracken had attended years ago. The interview was boring and yet if you were listening it was also informative.

Neither Kate nor Rick had heard a thing from Bracken in the last two days. "He has to know it's us," Rick pointed out. Kate was sitting next to him on the sectional while they watched the evening news.

"It hasn't gotten us any closer to finding where Roy's family is." That was the part that was wearing on Kate's mind at the moment. Having his killers come after them was one thing, but he was holding people who didn't know anything.

"We wait." Rick looked at the clock. "I need to send another sheet soon." There was one thing about all of this. Roy had a great deal of information even if none of it was overly damaging or usable in court.

"We go back to work tomorrow. Our suspension is over," Kate reminded him.

"It won't slow down the sending of pages and our families are still safe. I'm almost amazed someone hasn't tried to bug his apartment, office, car or any place else he frequents." Rick had yet to see anyone try and enter any of his places.

"Maybe they can't. The paparazzi have him covered 24 hours a day," Kate commented. Then she had a concern. "If he can't talk to anyone, what happens to Roy's family? Just how long are they going to keep them?" Or would they kill them and leave their bodies to decompose?

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Rick had sent in the latest piece before they left. Together they were walking into the bullpen of the 12th precinct. "Worried?" he inquired.

"No, yes… maybe. Besides you, the people here know me the best. Know Kate Beckett the best. I screw up and I'm exposed. I'm not a cop… I'm a demon." Kate added the last part softly.

"I'm not a cop but I _am_ a hunter. Together we can hunt your killers. Just act like you." Rick plopped down in the chair next to her desk like he was supposed to be there.

Kate reluctantly sat at her desk and turned on her computer. She gawked at what she saw. "334 unread messages." She was starting to rethink coming here and wondered if it really was such a good idea.

"COFFEE!" Rick jumped up and walked to the breakroom where he found a fancy coffee machine. "It's a coffee machine, how hard can it be?"

"BECKETT!" A man she knew as Espo came out of the elevator and stopped at her desk. "Glad to have you back. Where's Castle?" He expected to see him here as well. That was when he heard Castle's voice cry out in pain from the breakroom which was strange. Everyone knew Castle could work magic with that machine. "What happened during your two weeks? Do anything?" He wanted to know where she had spent it, but his desk phone was ringing. Espo answered it after a couple of rings.

"Welcome back, Beckett. Where have you been?" Ryan stepped up to her next. Kate was all set to try and give him an answer.

"It'll have to wait, we've got a body." Espo held up a Post-It note with the address.

"Body?" Rick poked his head out of the breakroom, grateful for the reprieve since it meant he didn't have go to war with the coffee maker.

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 _To the very loud strains of "Born This Way," a group of glittery contestants from Victor Baron's All-American Beauty Pageant rehearse on his hotel's stage. Things are going great until a lighting truss is lowered revealing the dead body of 21-year-old Miss Illinois, Amber Middleberry. Screaming, lots of screaming._

"Hey, Lanie." Kate and Rick found her already with the body.

"Don't you _Hey,_ _Lanie_ me. I was supposed to have the day off. Perlmutter was scheduled to be here, not me. BUT NO, he had to call in sick. Now I have to do his work and mine," she grumbled.

" _A_ _ND YOU!_ You… I'm not talking to you. Two whole weeks, Kate. You were suspended for two whole weeks, and did I get even one phone call? No, I had to find out from these two." Lanie waved at Espo and Ryan who quickly turned away and tried to look busy.

"Lanie..." Kate attempted to put a stop to her friend's rant only to have Lanie raise her hand.

"I'll be over… over there." Rick left Kate with Lanie and didn't see her glare at him for abandoning her.

Lanie had Kate in front of her and wanted answers. "So where have you been for two whole weeks? If you tell me locked up in your apartment… An apartment for which _YOU DIDN'T ANSWER YOUR DOOR_ _AT ALL,_ I am so going to hurt you."

"I…" Kate knew from her memories just what Lanie would want to hear and decided to give it to her. "I spent it with Castle." Kate was hoping that would be enough.

The look of shock on Lanie's face was priceless and seeing and listening to her choke was even better. "You spent it with Castle," she said flatly. There was a look of disbelief in her eyes. "Were you with him in the Hamptons?" Naturally Lanie had heard about the shooting that had taken place there. Along with the explosions on the interstate between New York and DC.

Kate tried to hide her grin and simply nodded.

Lanie had recovered and leaned in closer. "In whose bedroom?" Lanie knew what she wanted to hear, but had to wonder if Kate had finally come to her senses.

"His," Kate replied softly. Lanie squealed and hugged her so hard that she was afraid bones were starting to pop.

"I expect details, girlfriend; I want to hear every juicy bit. Tonight – over a glass of wine. Hell, over an entire bottle or two!" Lanie was positively beaming. "Where are you staying now?" They were back from the Hamptons after all.

"The loft," Kate answered just as softly as before.

Lanie clapped her hands over her mouth so that her squeal was muffled. "Have you moved in?" Lanie wanted that for her so very badly.

"Almost." Kate didn't want to be anywhere else. Yes, most of her clothes and her furnishings were still in her apartment, but they could fix that.

"What are you waiting for? I'll get Espo and Ryan over to your place with a truck tonight and we'll move everything we can." Lanie held up her hand when Kate started to speak.

"You can thank us later. Especially after you start having little Castle babies." Lanie hugged her again and began crying tears of happiness. Her friend had finally come out of her cocoon.

Actually Kate, well Snohbal, already had a thought about that. It was a demon thing, plus they'd been having sex – a lot of it – without protection of any kind that she knew of.


	22. Chapter 22

**Doppelgänger 22**

Kate was standing in what was now her half empty apartment. Lanie had made good on her threat and the boys had just left with another large piece. Even Lanie was gone with another load of her clothing.

"You're sure you're good with this? It wasn't my idea. Lanie just wouldn't…" She was forced to stop talking when she suddenly found herself in Rick's arms being thoroughly kissed.

"Where else would I want you?" he murmured after breaking from the kiss.

"What about Alexis and Martha? Surely they get a say." Her moving in was going to upset the balance that those three had.

"My mother already loves you and Alexis truly cares about you. Your stay in the Hamptons told both of us that." Rick looked her in the eye. "Do you really want to stay in this place alone?"

If truth be told Kate couldn't think of anyplace else she would rather be than with him. Mutely, she shook her head, buried her face against his chest, and let him hold her. She loved him and he was showing that he returned her love.

Of all her dreams about escaping her world and finding a new life, this wasn't one of them. But right now she couldn't think of why she hadn't ever dreamed of this.

"We're going to have to keep our secret forever… you know that," Kate warned. If any of their family found out that the real Kate Beckett and real Richard Castle were both dead, it would devastate them. She really didn't like that they had to lie to those who cared about them.

"The alternative is to break their hearts, Kate," Rick said stoically. He felt her trying to escape and was starting to question why when Espo, Ryan, and Lanie returned to get the next load.

"You two planning to help or are you going to give us a show in the middle of the floor?" Espo joked and got a swat to his arm from Lanie.

"Not cool, bro, not cool." Ryan was not impressed with his partner.

Red-faced, they broke apart. Rick proceeded to help with the next large piece while Kate retreated into her bedroom with Lanie close behind her.

"I told you Castle would love the idea," a smug Lanie remarked.

"Yeah, I just wish…" Kate wished for a lot of things.

"Wish you had done this a year ago?" Lanie still didn't understand why Kate was holding back. It was clear to her and everyone else in the building that she loved him.

Snohbal knew, though, that if she had done what she had done a year ago, she wouldn't be living this life. She might not even be on this plane. She probably would have rested that night then gone back out into the stairwell and moved on.

"The timing wasn't right," Kate replied briefly as she gathered up an arm full of clothes followed by Lanie doing the same.

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They'd unloaded the furniture into a storage unit while her clothes and a number of boxes were sitting all over the place in the loft. "I'll buy everyone lunch tomorrow," Rick offered after dropping the last box in the living room.

Espo pressed his luck. "That and drinks after work, man."

Rick didn't bat an eye. "Deal."

Lanie was the last one out; she was hugging Kate at the door. "Do _not_ get scared, girlfriend. Castle's the absolute best thing in your life. Yes, you'll have fights; just remember that man loves you for who you are, not who you want to be."

"I'll try," Kate promised. She hugged her friend and closed the door after her.

"It's just us," she told him with a soft smile. Rick wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. He backed up a step and began to undo her first button when the front door suddenly opened and they guiltily jumped apart.

"I saw Esposito, Ryan, and Lanie downstairs," Alexis remarked, staring at all the boxes and piles of clothes. "What's going on?" The answer was obvious but she wanted to hear it.

"I'm, ah… moving in," Kate answered hesitantly. She waited for Alexis to erupt and tell her how stupid an idea that was.

The fact that it was Kate answering her question made Alexis happy. The fact that Kate was moving in also thrilled her. It meant that Kate wasn't going to let her dad love her without loving him back. It meant she wasn't going to hurt her dad.

Alexis smiled widely and stepped up to Kate so that she could hug her fiercely. "Need some help?" She let go of Kate, scooped up an armload of clothes still on their hangers, and started walking to her dad's bedroom. "You can push some of Dad's clothes out of the way while I hang these up. Then we can empty some of the drawers to make room for your stuff." Alexis strode into the bedroom leaving the two perplexed adults in her wake.

"And you were worried," Rick chided.

Kate began laughing then wiped away the tears that had started. She picked up a pile of clothes. "You heard her, empty some drawers for my stuff." Kate smiled at the man she loved and headed to the bedroom.

She was standing next to Alexis while they both were hanging clothes in the closet. "What did you do with your furniture?" So far all Alexis had seen was clothes.

"We put it all in storage till we could decide what to do with it," Kate answered. Much to her surprise, she found herself being hugged by Alexis.

"I'm glad you're here… Kate." Alexis needed to get used to calling her Kate instead of Detective.

She relaxed and hugged her back. "I'm glad you think so. Alexis… I'm not trying to replace your mother." She didn't want the young woman to think she was taking over.

That caused Alexis to chuckle. "My mother. I love her but only because she's my mother. I learned long ago that she was no mother and never was going to be one. Honestly, Kate, don't worry," Alexis assured her while not letting her go.

"Kate… May I come to you and ask you questions?" Alexis loved her dad and they'd done many things together. She and her dad had suffered through a lot. The first thing that came to mind was puberty. She really wished she'd had a mother back then. However, Alexis was sure there were other things that she was going to be thankful for to have Kate around.

"You can ask me anything you want, Alexis. Anything at all." Kate squeezed her. "We should finish before your father starts filling the drawers with my underwear."

Alexis laughed. She let go of her and left Kate to finish hanging clothes while she went into the bedroom to rescue Kate's delicates from her father.

"Did you catch a case today?" Alexis called out from the closet. She jumped a little when suddenly Kate was standing next to her. "We did, but I'm more interested in you and Ashley," Kate responded.

The young woman studiously ignored her. "There's nothing to tell."

"Alexis… I may not be the best person to come to for advice given my track record with relationships, but you love him and he obviously loves you. Look how long it took me to admit that I love your father. Besides, I thought you wanted to go to Stanford as much as he does, and his willingness to stay in New York should tell you something."

"It's too late, I already broke up with him." Alexis had made her choice even if she hated it.

"So make up with him. He's ready for college and you're still in high school. You're smart, graduate early and join him at Stanford," Kate suggested.

"I'm already graduating as early as I can." Alexis used the same reasoning on Kate that she used on her father. "Long distance relationships hardly ever work out. I don't want him hating me because he stayed in New York for me." Alexis wanted him to keep his dream.

Kate tried something else to reach her. "So this is you giving up? Are you planning to give up on everything? The second things become difficult are you going to give up? That doesn't sound like the Alexis I know."

The redhead's temper flared. "Like you're not going to give up on Dad. Like you're not going to hurt him again," Alexis retaliated heatedly. She hated what she said the moment she said it, but it was too late to take it back.

"I suppose I deserve that. But Alexis, I'm not giving up on your dad, not now and not ever." Kate had reached a point and was willing to share. She wrapped her arms around the young woman. "Between you and me, just you and me… If or when your father asks me, the answer is going to be yes." A shocked Alexis turned her head to look up at her.

"I've got one more thing to share with you – only you – for now." Kate didn't know for certain but she had her suspicions. "Don't tell your father, but… I think I'm pregnant." She was pretty sure, just not yet 100% sure.

"Pregnant?!" Alexis clapped a hand over her mouth. "Pregnant?" she repeated, only far softer and saw a smile blossom on Kate's face.

"You and Dad." Alexis thought this changed everything. She knew her dad. If or when he found out, he was never going to leave Kate. He would throw his entire heart into their relationship.

"Of course, your father and I. You don't think he's been with another woman do you?" Had Castle been involved with someone else and she didn't know?

"What! No." Alexis knew for a fact that her dad hadn't even dated anyone else since meeting Kate.

"Oh, you mean me. I'll admit that I was involved with Doctor Davidson for a while, but I promise if I'm pregnant – and I think I am – he's not the father. Your dad is, I give you my word." Kate laid her hand on her heart as she spoke.

"Don't give up on Ashley because of your fears. Believe me I know about fears. I gave your father a chance, you need to give Ashley a chance. Maybe he's not the one for you or maybe he is, but don't let your fears rule you. I let my fears rule me until I met your father."

Kate used every memory she had from Kate Beckett to talk to Alexis. Every time a relationship started to get serious, beyond just having sex, she dropped them. Snohbal didn't know just how far Kate Beckett was willing to go with Richard Castle, but she knew how far she was willing to go with Rick.

Alexis hugged her back. "I need my phone." She ran out of the closet and past her dad who was just entering the bedroom.

"What happened?" Rick asked, looking at Kate who had followed Alexis out of the closet partly to see her follow through as well as to rescue her underwear from Castle.

"She's going to give being a couple with Ashley a chance and call him to see what he thinks," Kate explained then took what Castle had in his hands from him.

"Good." He knew from his memories that Rick approved of Ashley. His Alexis, he'd learned, was about a year or two older than this Alexis. Still the two were so much alike it was amazing.

"What do you think?" Rick inquired, not being very specific.

"The case? Well until Jeremy Kyper turned up dead I thought he was good for it. Now…" She and the team would pick it all up in the morning.

"I meant Roy," Rick clarified.

"Oh… He said today was his anniversary. Thirty years of marriage to one person." Kate could only hope for her marriage to last that long.

"Is there a legal marriage that's to more than one person?" He realized what he had said. "At the same time, I mean. And for the record that was this world's Rick."

Kate twisted her head to look at him. Had he just offhandedly proposed? Or was it something far worse. "Does that mean you've never wanted to get married?" _Like to me, for example._

"It didn't really work well with my chosen profession. What woman wanted to be left behind wondering when her husband was going to come home and for how long. Just long enough for a quick roll in the bed, or wherever?" He shook his head. "It's one of the arguments my Alexis and I have most often. She's young and most of the people she meets are wanted and she arrests or kills them. Not really the life I wanted for her."

"So, like father like daughter. And if you did get married, do you think she would take the hint?" Kate queried.

It was a question Rick didn't have an answer for since getting married wasn't something he had given much consideration to.

*\/X\/*

"We've got all your clothes. Your pictures, books, and countless other items are in the living room. Any thoughts as to what to do with your furniture?" They'd quickly loaded and unloaded everything without really thinking things through.

Kate hadn't thought about all of those items yet, either. "I know what I want to do with these clothes," she told him softly and started unbuttoning her shirt, which made Rick grin.

"What is all this?" A new voice that sounded much like Martha got their attention. Both of them sighed as Kate hurriedly began buttoning her shirt back up then followed Rick out into the very crowded living room.

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"Okay, that was unexpected," Rick commented as they made their way up to the loft in the elevator.

"All of his previous contestants that he'd supported were all failures; she was his last chance. He was just as surprised as everyone else that she was a blackmailer and was in it with her old boyfriend," Kate remarked.

"The boyfriend had to die so that she wouldn't get back with him, plus he thought it was all the boyfriend," Rick added.

"At least we solved it. Now if I just knew how to solve Lanie." How Lanie had talked her into a girls night out later tonight still escaped her.

"She's your friend," Rick pointed out.

"You can come with me!" Kate started praying that he would say yes just as they reached the front door.

"Nah, Lanie's all yours. Besides Roy roped me into joining him for drinks tonight. You should be happy Lanie rescued you from that." Rick pulled out his keys.

"I still can't believe that whoever was holding his family captive just disappeared. Seeing Evelyn and the girls walk into the Homicide Division actually had the entire 4th floor in tears. Now if she just had something that could help us find who had taken them and held them," Kate lamented.

Neither Evelyn nor the girls had really seen anyone. The men who held them were always dressed in sweats, wore Halloween masks, and barely spoke. The night crew was all over the location that Evelyn told them about and how to get there. Hopefully there was something there that would help them. Neither of them were holding their breath, though.

Opening the door revealed a new shock. "Alexis?" Rick was shocked.

"Ashley?" Kate was equally shocked.

"Hi, Mr. Castle, Detective Beckett." Ashley was sitting next to Alexis who had her laptop in her lap.

Alexis was all smiles. "Guess what, Dad, I'm going to Stanford. We're checking to see when I can apply for early entrance. I'll have enough credits to get in earlier than I thought. Ashley will still be there months before I will, though."

"Stanford, that's…" Rick wasn't sure what to say. "Where's Stanford?" he asked Kate quietly.

"California." She knew that from Kate's memories. "That's great, Alexis. So you took my advice?" Kate was happy for her.

"We know it won't be easy, but we're going to give a long distance relationship a try till Alexis can join me," Ashley chimed in.

" _Your advice?"_ Kate could hear the steel in Rick's voice.

"Excuse us." She took hold of Castle's arm and dragged him into their bedroom.

"You're sending my daughter to the other side of the country?" Even this Rick wasn't a fan of that.

" _Will you relax._ Even I can see that they love each other. And a long distance relationship means there will be no sex involved. Fortunately," she added.

"Well, when you put it that way." Rick suddenly liked the idea.

"Plus so long as you keep writing you'll have the money to go see her anytime you please." That was another problem they had yet to solve. They knew Gina was dead but so far no one else did. And with no body, thanks to Castle dissolving her like he had the hired killers, there was no corpse to find.

"Gina." Rick hung his head. He felt a little responsible for her death even if he hadn't anticipated it happening. The chance that man's hand would spasm was a bit of a shock.

Then a thought struck him. "Time to send another piece on Bracken even if I'm not sure it's still necessary." Rick and Kate both knew Bracken was in the news which had gone from local only to national. There were news organizations camped out all around him. Some of them had even managed to get inside the Senate Building to pepper him with questions before security escorted them back outside.

"One main problem left," Rick said.

"Yeah, Lanie," Kate grumbled.

Rick shook his head. "Bracken. He may be in trouble but he's not gone yet. Someone like him doesn't just quit. Unless he owns a remote island somewhere and has access to a bank account filled with money so he can disappear." Rick was thankful that this planet didn't have space flight yet. He was certain that if it had, Bracken would have escaped into the heavens. And since his ship was gone, Rick would've had no way to hunt him down.

"I'm going to shower and change and get ready for Lanie." She was giving in to the inevitable.

"Want some company?" Rick was willing to shower with her.

"With Lanie, sure." She would gladly take his help.

"With the shower." He tried a Kate Beckett glare. It didn't get him much but he was soon naked with a naked and soaking wet Kate next to him as they let their hands roam over each other, soaping each other up then rinsing off.


	23. Chapter 23

**Doppelgänger 23**

Alexis didn't get it. What in hell was her father doing way out here? She hadn't been able to raise him coming up on 2 years. It didn't help that she had chosen to spend every last penny she had on a ship-wide systems upgrade. That alone had cost her months. She'd ended up just sitting around doing almost nothing.

There was a benefit to that down time, however. Her ship's scanners, weapons, armor, communications, medical – almost everything on board – was working better than ever. A lot of what she now had was state of the art. It was only because of all those upgrades that she had been able to verify the coordinates she had for his last location.

Right now she was sitting in her upgraded science section and was analyzing the latest piece she had recovered from space. It was from her dad's ship, of that she had no doubt. "Okay, Dad, what did you do?"

"If I had a terminal breakdown, what would I do?" Alexis asked herself. "No, a better question is what did _you_ do? What stupid thing did you do next?" She hated trying to think like her father; it usually gave her a headache.

"I told you to update, dammit. Would it have been so hard to listen?" She tapped the table with her finger. "Map, I need a map." That got her up and back into her cockpit where she started looking around where her ship currently was.

"Too far, everything was dying, all you had left was the pod. Not enough fuel, not enough fuel…" she muttered. "Only the pod with limited supplies and limited…" Suddenly she had a stupid idea.

"Just what you would do. Here." She tapped her screen. Alexis started looking up what her computer – that was also upgraded – had on this sector. "Nothing… just the place you would go to. The middle of nowhere." She began smiling. She had a lead; she strapped herself in and set a course.

"One big jump for you, Dad, and one little course correction for me." Alexis had her lead; her course was set and her ship started moving to get there.

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It had only taken a few short hours and all the while she was picking up transmissions coming from a single planet in the system. "Good grief, they're broadcasting all over the place. Video, audio over every low band there is. Yet nothing on the upper bands, let alone…" She could contact anyone she wanted outside of this system and it looked like everyone inside the system. She just had to adjust her broadcast frequencies.

Alexis wanted to call out for her father now, but decided to wait. It took just a couple of hours to get close enough to do a deep scan of the system.

"Interesting planet…" She started chuckling. "Completely surrounded by junk in orbit." It told her this planet was primitive yet had probably been trying for years to get out into space.

First she did a scan of the planet's natural satellite to determine if his pod had crashed there. Not finding anything, she chose to move her ship into a high orbit above the vast amount of junk that surrounded the planet.

"Sara, begin a scan of all of the objects that are in orbit. Specifically look for anything that might have been part of Dad's pod using the standard materials used for his class of ship."

"Beginning scan, estimated time to completion is six hours. Be advised that this planet has a primitive scanning capability that has likely already seen us," Sara announced.

"I doubt they can do anything about it. Please complete the scan. I'm going to set up and launch a couple of probes."

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Alexis was looking at the results of the first probe that she'd sent down into the atmosphere. "A little dirty, but based on their level of technology it's to be expected. The planet appears to be in the very early stages of an ice age. Their pollution's exposing them to various dangers. Typical." She'd seen it all before.

"This planet is apex. 73% water, most of it salt water. I'll bet this planet was amazing before they achieved this level of technology. Just think… a simple house on the beach with nothing to worry about." Alexis started dreaming.

Then Sara signaled her. "What have you got, Sara?" Alexis brought it up on her screen. "Damn it!" She pounded the table. "Daddy!" She felt her tears run down her face. "Analysis Sara?" Alexis wanted – no needed – more information.

"Designated piece is from the interior of the pod in question. There are indications that it is burnt," Sara informed her.

"Burnt? Speculate type of fire required to achieve this type of burn. It can't be from re-entry or it would have been completely burned up." It gave her a tiny amount of hope.

"Chemical composition would suggest that this piece was exposed to atmosphere prior to being burnt. How it was captured in orbit is unclear." Sara was good at being a cold-blooded scientist, though her ability to reach conclusions based on hope was severely limited.

"So Dad's pod made it to atmosphere before it exploded. The explosion threw debris everywhere including back into orbit where it was captured by this planet." Alexis tried to think of a possibility that meant her dad was still alive.

"Maybe he jumped!" She was all over that possibility since it meant he was alive somewhere, or at least had been at the time. It also meant she'd made up her mind.

"Sara, prep the shuttle. It's time to go lower and do some scanning." Alexis hoped to get lucky.

"Caution, this planet has the capability to track and follow your shuttle. It is also probable that they have the wherewithal to shoot you down," Sara warned.

Alexis knew her new shuttle was very capable and it was possible that anything this planet had couldn't keep up with her. Still she would need to be careful. "Acknowledged, I'm still going. If Dad's down there I'm going to find him."

Her first task was getting past all of the junk, made easier because her shuttle was not her dad's pod. It was much larger, being 14 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 6 feet tall, and was far more maneuverable. "Maybe if I'm not the only object that's leaving orbit…" Alexis pondered just as she detached from her ship. "Sara, fire the close in weapons and force a number of the items in orbit to lose orbit. I'm going to follow one or more of them down into the atmosphere." She had an idea on just how to hide.

"Acknowledged… firing now." Alexis watched several shots hit a number of the devices that in turn one or more struck another item and soon there were various units headed into the planet's atmosphere.

She could see that the objects she was following were headed for one of their larger bodies of water. It separated two of the larger continents.

"Now where are you, Dad?" She knew her father had skill even if he did spend his money on other things.

A quick scan of the life forms told her that this planet's locals, she, and her dad were far too similar to find him. It was like finding a needle in a hay stack.

"If he had time to get into his pod, then he would take everything with him. That meant he would have taken his wristbands with him." That had Alexis smiling since those she could scan for with her new scanners. "It's a big planet," she sighed, thinking it was going to take time.

Alexis halted her plummet toward the planet a little short of entering the water and just hovered there. "Sara, can you scan and send the scan results down to me?" Sara was in orbit meaning she could see more of the planet than Alexis could. Sara used the parameters of what Alexis had sent and left Alexis hanging there, waiting. Until finally she got a signal. "Yes! Analysis please, Sara."

"The material scanned is typical for the bracers you and Richard Rodgers utilize. Power reading suggests that both of them are still operational," Sara reported. Alexis set her course and applied power to get there as quickly as possible.

A moment later she heard, "Alexis, suggest you activate your rear video monitor," Sara advised. Alexis activated the monitor and saw that she was leaving behind a very large plume of water that sprayed high up into the sky.

"Oops." She reduced power till the spray was gone. Unfortunately it meant she wasn't going to get there as fast as she wanted. But she didn't need to advertise her location, either.

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Then came the next major challenge. The coordinates she had been given were in the middle of what was turning out to be a large city. And worse, the sun was still out. Meaning if she got any closer she would easily be spotted. Alexis decided to wait till the sun went down, so she reduced power, settled down onto the water, and set the controls to hover there just a couple of feet above the waves. "Roughly three hours till sunset." She dropped her head until her chin reached her chest. She was so near and had already waited such a long time. Being this close and not able to go to him made her heart ache.

She woke up to a beeping sound. She was on her little bed that was barely big enough for her. Looking out the viewport it told her it was dark. "Finally!" She swung her legs over the side, stood up, and stretched to get the blood moving again.

The city turned out to be interesting. It was filled with older buildings that ranged in size from tens of feet tall to hundreds of feet tall. They were actually a mix of brick and steel. And there were transportation units. She saw a lot of those as they traveled across black areas that were laid out in strips that went everywhere.

Finally her scans showed that she was directly above the location of the wristbands.

Alexis powered down and set the controls so that it would hover just a foot above the roof. She seriously doubted that this building could handle the shuttle's weight. "Right below me and just a few feet below that." She sighed in relief. Then she saw something that gave her hope. "He's moving." She felt her tears start to roll down her face. Logic told her that it was just the wristbands, but her heart told her that it was her dad.

Stepping out onto the roof told her that she was right. This roof would never have held the weight of her shuttle. She pulled out a weapon, shot the lock off of the door that was on the roof, and looked inside. It was a set of stairs leading down.

Once down to the floor below she pulled out her scanner and quickly found the wristbands; they'd moved yet again. In fact they were presently moving a little.

She was soon standing outside of a door which left her in a quandary. Should she blast it open and step inside or knock and wait for someone to answer? She chose to knock and watched her scanner that showed the wristbands headed right for her. Her dad was going to open the door. Her heart pounded. After almost two years he was just the other side of this door.

She retracted her scanner as the door opened. " **DADDY!** "Alexis launched herself at him, wrapped her arms around him, and started crying.

At first Rick was too shocked to even do anything. He knew that it was Alexis, but why had she knocked since she had a key? "Alexis?" He didn't understand what was going on, why she was behaving that way.

"Hi Dad," Alexis said into his shoulder and kept crying. "It's been two long horrible years, but I found you." Her tears doubled as she squeezed him even tighter.

"ALEXIS!" It finally dawned on him just which Alexis this was. "How… You…" Rick was at a loss as to what to say.

She let go of him and wiped furiously at her tears. "You've gone native." She began to chuckle. He was obviously wearing local clothing while she was wearing something that looked more like a uniform.

Alexis looked past him and saw the space filled with boxes stacked up all over the place. "Dad…?" She was curious and then her thoughts were interrupted.

A woman's voice rang out. "LILY ANN CASTLE! You come back here!" A completely naked small girl came running out of a room and around a box. She smiled gleefully and laughed; what she was doing was fun. Then she saw someone and ran toward her. She slammed right into Alexis and wrapped her arms around her legs. "LEXI!" Her voice sounded so happy to see her.

It wasn't that Alexis hated being hugged. The little girl was clearly not a danger though her contact lens was giving her a warning about the child, just not a very urgent one. "Dad?" Alexis was confused.

"Lily, sweetheart, come to Daddy." Rick bent down, rescued his daughter's legs from his younger daughter, and picked the little girl up. Lily, however, only had eyes for her big sister.

" _DADDY?!"_ Alexis was now really confused.

"Lily Ann Castle," the same woman's voice called. Rick and Alexis turned their heads to see Kate step out of the room still holding the diaper from which Lily had escaped.

"DEMON!" Alexis was fast as she reacted to the warning that showed up in her left contact lens. She lifted her right arm, pulled out a weapon, and fired.

"ALEXIS!" Rick was almost as fast. He slapped her arm up and the shot missed Kate, but not by much. Since it wasn't a death round and simply a capture round, it hit the empty shelves and dissipated.

"What the hell, Dad?" Alexis was shocked yet again.

Lily clapped her hands over her ears. "Bad." She knew her sister had said a bad word.

"That's… That's my wife." He knew what this looked like to her. She just didn't know what had happened since he'd been gone.

" **Your WHAT?!** "Surely she had heard wrong. Her dad would never marry a demon. Unless… Alexis raised her weapon again only to have her dad smack her arm.

"Yes, _wife_ _._ Now put it away." Rick hated to be abrupt with her but he couldn't let her kill or attempt to capture Kate. Especially with Lily watching everything. "Alexis."

"Rick, babe?" Kate was equally confused. Why had Alexis attempted to shoot her? She thought Alexis loved her. They had grown very close over the last two years.

"Come take Lily and get her dressed." Rick offered up their little girl, waiting for Kate to move closer and take her from him. "Just give us a minute."

Kate walked very slowly and warily then took Lily from Rick. Once she was closer she became aware that there was something off about Alexis. She stared at an Alexis who was staring at her. "You're Alexis. Rick's Alexis." She looked at her husband while keeping a wary eye on the young woman. "I'm… I mean, I didn't… It's nice to meet you. I'll let you two talk. Come on Lil, let's get you dressed then we can go see Gramps."

Lily's thoughts were now off her big sister and onto her grandfather. "Gramp!" She was excited to go see him. She waved at Alexis as her mother carried her back into the bedroom to dress her.

Alexis was all over her father the second Kate and Lily were gone from view. "What the hell, Dad?!"

"It's a long story." And he wasn't sure just where to begin.

"Make it short before I shoot both of you." Shoot the demon and take her in for the reward and shoot her father so she could take him to a facility and have him reconditioned to escape being charmed by a succubus.

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Kate had taken her time getting her daughter dressed and was now on the bed tickling her in an attempt to distract her from what was happening with Alexis and her father. Going to her father's for dinner tonight was most likely canceled now which presented a problem for all of them. They had little to no food in the house. Maybe a little something for Lily but that was about it.

She was hugging and kissing her daughter, doing her best to eavesdrop on what was happening in the other room. She didn't hear anything which was beginning to worry her. Kate picked up Lily and went to the doorway. "Is it safe?"

Rick answered her call. "You can join us, Kate." She cautiously walked into the living room where she found her husband and Alexis sitting on the sectional. They were facing each other with maybe a bit too much space between them.

Kate chose a chair in front of them. "What do you know?" she asked looking at Alexis.

"That my crazy father…"

Rick growled, "Alexis!" He glared a warning at her.

"That my _dad_ fell in love with a succubus, married her, and had a child with her." Alexis wasn't happy about any of that.

"I swear I didn't charm him; your father married me willingly. I'm not evil, even if the rest of my kind are. I escaped from my world and ended up here. I love your father, Alexis, with all of my heart and would do anything to defend him," Kate told her, hoping against hope that the young woman would believe her.

"She has – more than once, too." Their last two years of working in the 12th Precinct hadn't been easy for either of them.

"I love him too much to lose him. Has he explained how we came to be who we are?" Kate queried, meaning did she know that Kate was living the life of someone else as was her father.

"A little, yes. You, I can understand since you can change your shape. Dad, however… It's hard to believe that there are or were two of him." Alexis was still trying to process that and everything else.

"Hey!" Rick felt insulted and listened to his wife laugh a little at his expense.

"So what now? I love your father and I'm not giving him up, or our child." Kate hugged Lily who was still staring at her big sister.

"Lexi?" Lily reached out her arms since she wanted to be held by her big sister.

"She thinks that you're her sister, Alexis. The other Alexis," Kate said and held onto Lily.

"Another me." That had Alexis chuckling softly which seemed to break some of the ice. "What's all this?" She waved her hand at all the boxes.

"We're moving, we need the space," Rick replied.

Alexis glanced around, puzzled. This place looked more than big enough for the three of them. _And just when_ _had_ _she accept_ _ed_ _that her dad was involved with a succubus and_ _that_ _she wasn't doing anything about it?_

Kate dropped her bomb. "I'm pregnant again." Alexis's eyes widened in shock.


	24. Chapter 24

**Doppelgänger 24**

"We think it's twins this time though we're not sure. And I'm frightened," Kate admitted. She saw the look of not understanding on Alexis's face.

"When I was pregnant with Lily we couldn't go to any of this city's hospitals. Underneath what you see, I'm a succubus. They would learn that I'm not human and we couldn't risk it. No drugs, no medical help; it was scary. Now with twins, I just don't know. I love Rick. And I love my family and want to keep them. But what if…" Kate feared that giving birth to twins might kill her.

"And that girl is a…" Alexis didn't want to say demon even if it was true. She should be shooting both of them and taking them in to be terminated.

"The term is tiefling. Part human, part demon. Lily has to wear contacts to hide her eyes and she kind of has my skin coloration. She can't go to a hospital, either, for as long as she lives. Neither will these two." Kate placed a hand on her belly. She wasn't showing much but with twins she was going to get bigger faster.

"I want my family, but I'm so scared." Her tears started all over again.

"Love, we'll think of something. We'll find a way." Rick wrapped his arms around her and drew her close.

Alexis wasn't used to this from her father. He was single, he didn't have kids, and he certainly wasn't involved with a demon.

"Okay Dad, now tell me the long version. How did you get into this mess?" Alexis wanted to know partly to understand but also to see if there was a way to get him out of this predicament.

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Alexis was still shaking her head. The story was far too weird to be believed.

The demon had left them for a time to put the toddler down so she could sleep. She'd also found out that the three of them had been going to go see her father. Well, Kate Beckett's father. Her arrival had ruined that.

Now they were sitting at the breakfast bar eating Chinese takeout that Alexis had to admit was actually pretty good. "So there's another me?" She was still trying to understand that part.

"Richard Castle has a daughter named Alexis Harper Castle. She's two years younger than you and could almost be your twin," Rick explained. "It's really good to see you, sweetheart." He leaned over and kissed her head.

Alexis suddenly stood and pulled out a weapon. "I have weapons fire downstairs."

Rick checked his spies. "I've got nothing." He looked at Kate who shook her head.

"I spent a year and almost every credit I had upgrading everything. It looks like one person's down and another's entering the elevator," Alexis said.

"You stay here." Rick pointed at Kate. He took out a weapon, followed his daughter out the front door, and over to the elevator which was on its way up.

"I thought you said this Bracken guy was out of the picture?" Alexis inquired based on the information she had just been provided.

"He is. They picked him up and convicted him for manufacturing illegal drugs with intent to distribute along with tax evasion. They never could get enough on him for murder. Nothing that would hold up in court anyway," Rick quickly told her.

"Elevator will open in…3…2…1." Alexis and her father aimed their weapons at the doors.

When the doors opened Rick saw Alexis lying on the floor bleeding badly. "ALEXIS!" She wasn't his Alexis but in a way she was; he loved her much like he loved his Alexis. He stepped in, scooped her up, and retreated to the loft while Alexis covered their backs.

"ALEXIS!" Kate cried and helped Rick take her to the sectional. "What happened?"

He pulled out his scanner. "She's been hit by three rounds. Both lungs have collapsed, blood pressure is dropping fast. Another round has fractured two of her ribs which have done a number on her intestinal tract."

"Alexis, no, please don't do this." Kate dropped to her knees and stroked her orangish hair. "Please sweetheart, don't do this." Kate did nothing to the tears that were flowing down her face. "Do something," Kate begged, turning to her husband. His heart aching, Rick shook his head.

"There has to be something." Kate wasn't willing to give up. "I can't add her memories to mine." She was pretty sure she didn't know where Snohbal ended and Kate Beckett began. Adding Alexis would be just too much for her.

"Alexis, download her memories," Rick commanded. "Quickly, she doesn't have much time." He needed Alexis to do it since his device was filled with Richard Castle's memories.

"I'm going downstairs; go get your dagger," Rick told Kate. Then he jumped up and ran to the stairs while ordering his spies to go outside and scan the area.

Alexis watched Kate run to a bedroom while her father ran out the front door.

"You do look like me," Alexis was willing to admit. It was simple enough to do. She pulled out the device, attached the terminal to the dying girl's temple, and started downloading everything.

Rick ran out of the stairwell and found Ashley lying in a pool of blood. "Damn it!" He didn't stop to find out if he was still alive. Based on the amount of blood on the floor he knew he was already gone.

Next he came across the doorman who was also down and in a pool of his own blood. "What the hell is going on?" He looked outside using his spies and didn't see much of anything. "Long gone." He ordered his spies to spread out. There was likely a car, van, or truck doing its best to get away from here. He needed a lead on who to hunt down for this massacre.

He went over to the doorman, stripped him, and poured a liquid over his body. He didn't wait to make sure all of him was gone.

He walked over to Ashley. "I'm so sorry, Ashley. I'm pretty sure Alexis loved you." Rick briefly laid a hand on the young man's head, removed everything on his body, then poured the same liquid over his remains. This time Rick watched his liquid dissolve the body and the pool of blood, leaving only a disproportionately small amount of water behind that would eventually evaporate.

He knew with his entire being that there was only one person behind this. He just didn't know how the bastard had managed it. The prosecutor had won early on and had convinced the judge that Bracken was a flight risk. So he had not stepped a foot out of prison since being arrested.

Rick knew what he wanted to do. He burned with the need to get close enough to put a round in Bracken's head and turn his brains into cottage cheese. What stopped him was Kate. Even though she was a demon she didn't believe in killing.

Maybe if he did it and never told her… He shook his head. Even if he didn't tell her, she'd know that he'd done it. He ran back up the stairs to find Kate sitting on the floor sobbing, her dagger in her lap. The anguish that was on her face when she looked up at him only solidified his resolve to kill Bracken for this.

Rick watched Alexis pull the terminal off of Alexis's head. "She's gone, Dad. …I'm so sorry."

Alexis hadn't been on this planet long but she'd already learned a lot. Seeing a succubus weeping brokenly over losing someone, a human no less, was not lost on her. She also saw her father crying as he knelt down to hold Kate. Kate latched onto him and held him tight while sobbing on his shoulder. _"Who_ _did this_ _?"_ Alexis demanded. She wanted, no _needed_ to know – now.

Rick raised his head and wiped his hand over his face. He had his guess based on what had happened over the last two years, even if he had no evidence to support it. "My gut tells me it's Bracken," he answered tiredly. What had happened today had taken everything he had to give.

Alexis stood there and watched what was effectively her stepmother and her father crying and mourning a girl that looked so much like her. She also decided what to do about it. "I'll take care of it." She strode out the door and up the stairs to reach her shuttle. Kate and Rick were too wrapped up in each other and the pain they were feeling to actually notice that she'd left.

Rick recovered first. He rose, reverently stripped her body, retrieved a vial, and started pouring its contents over Alexis. "What are you doing?" Kate _really_ wasn't happy with what he was doing.

"Taking care of the body so we can live our lives." He knew he had no choice. They needed to avoid any questions about the three dead bodies so he dealt with them much as he had done with the bodies at the beach house in the Hamptons.

Kate watched Alexis disappear and broke down sobbing yet again. Her heart was broken and she didn't know what could possibly fix it.

"Mama?" a little voice called. Both of them turned and looked up to see Lily at the top of the flight of stairs, trapped by the baby gate that had been installed to prevent her from tumbling down them. Kate was up in a heartbeat, running up the stairs to scoop Lily up in her arms and carry her back to her bedroom. She needed to find out how much her baby girl had seen or understood.

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Alexis flew back to her ship and requested that Sara do a search. It wasn't difficult for Sara; she found Bracken in his cell without any trouble.

Alexis set her weapons to his location. "Alexis?" Sara questioned. Without answering, Alexis plugged her device that held Alexis's memories into Sara and started downloading her into a larger system with more memory storage.

A moment later Sara informed her, "Weapons are on line, target is acquired." Sara had already read every memory of Alexis Castle and sanctioned this action even though the young Earth girl wouldn't have approved.

Alexis pressed the tab and watched stoically as that section of the prison was utterly destroyed. The cells on either side were damaged and their inhabitants injured, but only Bracken was killed. It would take the investigators many hours to find even a few pieces of his body. The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision immediately launched a formal inquiry into the situation.

"Alexis Castle wouldn't have wanted this done, however, based on our laws you had the right to execute him," Sara said.

Alexis suddenly had an idea. "Sara, can you download her memories into the Crimson Duplication device?" The device was an energy hog. Alexis had known that when she bought it. But given a little time while it was offline, her power system would recover. Granted this wasn't what she had bought it for, but this was a special case.

"Download commencing. Estimate twelve hours to complete download and fabrication of visual." Sara approved of this also.

"I'm going to go back down to the planet and talk with Dad and his wife," Alexis told her.

"Richard is married?" That was news to her.

"To a succubus no less." Alexis was starting to accept that.

"I will inform the authorities that we will be returning with a demon for disposal," Sara informed her.

"Not this succubus, Sara. She's my stepmother and as hard as it is to believe, I don't think she's evil like others of her kind. You should have seen her when the other Alexis died. She cared, Sara, truly cared." Alexis had never seen anything like it in a demon. Every other demon she had encountered had been a cold-blooded killer with absolutely no remorse for their actions.

"As you wish." Alexis was in charge, after all.

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Alexis was sitting with her dad and they were talking about things. Lots of things. Then Kate came out of Lily's bedroom and came downstairs.

Kate saw the look on Rick's face. "She woke up and heard me crying, she didn't see a thing." She sat next to Rick and tried to melt into his body knowing more tears were just a moment away. "How do we explain to her that she'll never be able to see her sister again? She loved Alexis." Kate didn't dare look at Rick, she knew if she did she would just start crying all over again. She wasn't sure how she was going to survive never seeing Alexis again. She was an integral part of their family.

Her husband gently brushed her hair back from her face. "Alexis and I have been talking about that a little and there's something you should know." Actually there were a lot of things they needed to talk about.

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Lily was up and sitting in her high chair, eating and making a mess while half the time she would hold her arms out to Alexis. She wanted out of her chair and into her sister's arms.

"You really think this will work?" Kate had listened to Alexis and Rick explain the device to her. She did notice that while she was making breakfast for herself that Alexis was picking up after Lily. That brought a sad smile to her face.

"It won't be ready for a number of hours yet, but all or almost all of your Alexis will be in there. There are a number of limitations to this, power being one of them. The first major problem will be whether your Alexis will be able to handle the situation. Seeing, talking, hearing but not being able to touch or be touched might be too much for her."

Kate gave up putting jam on her toast. "I'm not even sure if I can. I'm going to want to hug her and even kiss her. Not to mention never letting her out of my sight again. Damn Bracken!" she snarled in her fury, enough fury that Lily didn't fail to notice.

"Mama?" Lily had only ever heard that tone of voice a couple of times and it worried and confused her. Her mama was always nice.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. Mama isn't mad at you." Kate lifted her out of her chair and held her tight. It allowed Lily to hold onto her mother. "What?" Kate saw a look on Alexis's face.

"It's just that I've never met anyone like you. Every…" Alexis didn't want to say demon in front of Lily since she might not understand. "They've been heartless killers that didn't concern themselves with even a thought about who or why they killed." Alexis was still amazed at Kate.

"Yeah, I saw that a lot in my world. I spent months planning my escape. I don't want to think what would have happened to me if I had been caught. I would likely be screaming in pain until time itself ended." Kate shivered at the thought.

Alexis nodded at Lily. "Does she know?"

Kate shook her head. "Lily knows she's different but she doesn't know that. I need to put her contacts in if we're going anywhere public today." She carried Lily toward the stairs. "Rick should be out of the shower soon."

A fresh and clean Rick came out of the bedroom to find only his daughter at the kitchen counter. "How are you doing? It's been a little while since we've done anything as a family. How's your mother?"

She looked at her father and shrugged. "You know what happened when I followed in your footsteps and became a hunter… Well, Mom's still an ass. The last time we talked it turned into our usual yelling match." She didn't want to hate her mother, but it was hard not to.

Alexis found herself being hugged and reveled in it. "I'm sorry sweetheart, but becoming a hunter was your idea, not mine." He'd tried to talk her out of it.

"I know." She wondered what her life would have been like if she hadn't chosen to become a hunter. She liked her job, though. And it didn't hurt that she was good at it.

"So why are you moving? I mean I get that if you're going to have twins you need the space, but is there a different reason?" Alexis was curious and she had other questions for her dad as well.

"The space is part of it. Another is that this Richard Castle was a writer…" Rick was interrupted when Alexis began laughing.

"Sorry, Dad. …It's just that I can't see you as a writer." She didn't see him as anything but a hunter.

"It turns out it's not as difficult as it sounds. But I can't wrap my mind around the type of books he wrote. I may have his memories but I don't have his imagination. Then Gina, who was his publisher, was killed so I took that opportunity to write a different type of book. It doesn't pay as well but at least I'm good at it. Here, I'll show you." Rick got up and started rummaging through boxes till he found the right one.

He handed the latest book to Alexis who quickly scanned it. Her face showed her surprise. "You're writing about Lily." She read a few pages. "It's a children's book." She looked at her father through new eyes.

"It was something I could put my heart into. It's actually doing relatively well. With the money I get from writing this and Kate's salary as a detective… we're doing pretty good." Rick was happy. It wasn't the money Richard Castle made but they were doing well.

"We bought the new place using money from the sale of this place and had money left over. You wouldn't believe what the loft was worth. It surprised the hell out of me. The new place has more bedrooms, more living space, even a yard for Lily to play in."

Something bothered Alexis. She knew the kind of money she made and her father had to be making at least as much. More since he had been doing it longer. "What did you do with your money?"

Rick knew she meant the money he'd made as a hunter. "We need to wait for Kate." Was what he was thinking about even an option? With Alexis gone only Martha and Jim were holding them here.

"I knew it! What did you spend it on? The 'verse knows you didn't spend it on your ship or it would still be in one piece." It also meant he wouldn't be here, married to a succubus, and raising a family. A family of tieflings no less, which she was shocked to admit didn't bother her so much.


	25. Chapter 25

**Doppelgänger 25**

 **Epilogue**

"Hi Lily!" Alexis spread her arms wide and was only mildly upset that she couldn't actually wrap her arms around her. Actually not being able to touch anything had been hard at first. Finding out what had happened to her had left her crying and despondent for days. Things had only gotten worse after that.

Ashley was dead and her father was dead. Her real father. She had been pissed at Rick for weeks. Then seeing Kate change forms to resemble a mythic demon had been the next big one. The final straw had been finding out that she couldn't touch anything because she was dead and was now nothing more than a program filled with her memories, that her image was a simple transmission. She could only go where the emitters could send her image.

Today she was sorry for how she'd behaved. It had taken them weeks to get her to see that everything they'd done was because they loved her. They had become Kate Beckett and Richard Castle because they needed a life to live and those two were dead.

"LEXI!" Lily ran at her and came up just short. Lily really didn't understand why Alexis couldn't hold her anymore but she had adjusted a lot faster than Alexis had. The fact that Alexis was still around and would talk and play with her seemed to be enough for her.

"How is my favorite sister?" Alexis asked and saw her little face drop. "What's wrong Lil?" Alexis hoped she could fix whatever it was.

"Where Mama!" Suddenly Lily was ready to cry. She didn't understand. Mama was gone; she couldn't find her daddy and only Alexis had showed up.

That didn't make sense to Alexis. They would never have left her alone. "Dad's here Lil, you just didn't look hard enough. Come on, let's go find him." Alexis held out her hand forgetting that Lily couldn't actually take it. Still Lily put her hand in hers and walked with her.

It only took a minute to find Rick which was good since Alexis couldn't get far. In fact she couldn't leave the house at all. "DADA!" Lily left Alexis and latched onto Rick.

"She said Kate was gone and couldn't find anyone," Alexis explained.

"You were down for a nap, Lil, I'm sorry." Rick knelt down to hug her and kiss her head. "Your brothers are coming so your other sister took her up to her ship. It has the best medical care we can find."

"Bothers?" Lily was instantly excited and started jumping up and down. "See, Dada?" She wanted her brothers and she wanted them now.

"Maybe tomorrow after they come back down." Rick burst her bubble and got the reaction he was expecting when Lily went into a full-blown meltdown. Rick and Alexis understood that Lily was a mommy's girl not a daddy's girl.

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"Yittle!" Lily was seeing her brothers for the first time.

"You used to be that little," Kate told her. Lily shook her head. She was never that small. "They'll grow up fast, just like you did." Kate had no doubt about that.

"Are you finished packing?" Kate asked; Lily nodded. "Are you sure? We won't be back here for a long time." Actually it was going to be three months but to Lily that was going to be a long time. "Did you pack Peetie?" She saw a surprised look come over her daughter's face and giggled when the toddler ran off to pack her penguin.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Alexis questioned after popping into existence.

Kate knew the question wasn't about Lily or the boys. "We're taking the emitters with us and Alexis has Sara making still more. The plan is to make it so that you can even go outside. While we travel even more will be made. Alexis told us that she plans on making a quick stop to purchase a separate power generator, just for you."

"Kate…" Alexis had been thinking about this for a while. And since she never actually slept, a while meant a long time to her. "I've been wondering if living this way is such a good thing." Living as a 3D image with her memories stored in some computer wasn't really living, not to her.

Hearing that, Kate stepped away from the babies who were presently sleeping. "ALEXIS! Now you listen to me, young lady. I know Ashley's gone and that there will never be a replacement for him." This Alexis was only alive in a computer. She would never marry. Never know the joys of sex. Never have her own children.

"You are a part of this family and don't you forget it. This Rick may not be your Rick, at least not completely. But like me, he's no longer sure just where your Rick starts and stops." Kate and Rick had had a long conversation over just who they were now.

"Yes, I'm Kate Beckett and a piece of me is still Snohbal. Both of us are a blend of who we used to be and we are _not_ sad about that. We wouldn't change a thing." It was now that she really wished that she could hug this Alexis.

"You're going to outlive all of us, sweetheart. You'll get to help Lily and the boys raise their children long after Rick and I are gone. YOU are the ultimate survivor of this family.

Besides, who knows. Maybe Alexis will find someone who can help you to be someone more. Put you in a body, let you feel and live. I don't know, I'm a succubus and not used to the technology that Alexis talks about.

You know of the stairs where I came from. Maybe some day you can enter them and find a whole new life for yourself. What little I understand of the stairs is that the places you can go using it are endless.

You've seen the magic of the dagger and my books. Who's to say that there isn't a magic that can give you what you want most.

Maybe take your dad's wristbands, my dagger and books with you. See things none of us will ever see. Do things none of us have ever even dreamed of doing.

Please sweetheart, don't give up." Kate could feel her tears running down her face and did her best to hug Alexis even if her arms and even her body touched nothing. Kate knew she had a future, she just needed to be there for it.

"I'll try," Alexis agreed; Kate's plea had touched her heart.

"No. Do or do not, there is no try." Kate tipped her head and began chuckling; she couldn't help it. Alexis laughed. Leave it to Kate to remind her of her father and his love of _Star Wars._ Then a thought hit her. Maybe if she made it to those stairs she would find the real Kate Beckett or maybe her real father.

"I'd ask you if you're packed, but you _are_ packed," Kate chuckled, trying to bring some levity to this now heavy room.

"Just don't forget to pack the emitters and my computer." Alexis smiled at Kate feeling much better about who and what she was now.

"NEVER!" They would forget those over her dead body.

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" _This_ is the power core?" Kate asked in disbelief. Alexis had just come back on-board her ship after making a quick stop. It looked like a large, blue, glowing egg inside a glass cylinder surrounded by metal rods to her. It had a metal top and a metal bottom.

"Yep, it's a fusion power core and it cost us a very pretty credit. It will last for centuries, perhaps even a millennium, before it needs a new fuel core. That's the blue egg on the inside," Alexis explained and started plugging it into the computer that held Alexis.

"Where's Rick?" Kate didn't see him. However, going to see him was interrupted when one of her sons started crying. "If he's hungry his brother probably is, too."

Alexis appeared and watched Alexis work. "So this is my new power source?"

"Uh huh, this beauty is state of the art. If we're careful and can keep finding new cores, you'll live for thousands of years," Alexis replied. She changed the subject. "How goes your reading?"

Alexis chuckled. "It's a good thing I'll live a long time. I feel like I'll be in school for the rest of my life." She couldn't believe the amount of information that Alexis's ship had in its computer core. Sara was turning out to be a terrific teacher.

"You just wait till I can plug you into the Central Library on Vulia. They've been gathering information from several of the surrounding systems and storing it all in their main computer core. They even purchase information. I've sold a number of things to them. You fear being in school forever, you just wait," Alexis said with a wicked grin.

Suddenly Alexis had an idea. Maybe they had information that would help her make a body for her so she could go where she wanted, not just where the emitters allowed her to go.

"Do they have Wi-fi?" Maybe she could be plugged in now and start learning. Seeing Alexis shake her head shot that idea down. Still she now had hope.

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Kate was standing on the back patio holding James while Rick was next to her holding Levi. The place was beautiful in its own way.

He'd built his home on a moon and the gas giant that it circled was bright in the sky. The sky was made up of various shades of purple off the glow of the gas giant. But the trees, if that was what they were, were a shade of green as were the grass and weeds and most of the other plants.

She watched something small with large wings sprint past them. "They're harmless, they actually eat the insects so seeing one is a good thing," Rick told her, hoping to ease her fears.

"This is what you spent your money on?" Kate had been given a quick tour and found herself out back. She pointed to the light green water beyond. "And that's the ocean of this place, yes?" It seemed to have veins of blue and white with white being the dominate color where it met the shore.

The house Rick had had built was high up on the side of an extinct volcano. It got some of its power from solar; collected rain water that was in turn treated to make it potable for them to drink. Waste water was treated and released into the ground where it would be cleaned even more naturally as it made its way underground to the sea.

It had a main power generator while each room had a small back-up power source.

He nodded. "The locals call it Lake Chaubunagungamaug. It's the closest we can come to an English translation. Just off that way," Rick gestured toward the west, "even if we can't see it from here, is a place called Crater Lake, if we're translating correctly. As best we can tell, it's actually 16 lakes, all interconnected through a series of waterfalls and caves. Each lake is separated from the rest by thin natural dams of travertine, an unusual form of limestone deposited slowly over time from the action of local moss, algae and bacteria. The travertine dams grow at a rate of only 1 centimeter a year, making the lakes extremely fragile. They're off limits to everyone in order to preserve them. There might be some pictures of them around her somewhere. They're quite beautiful."

Kate had seen everything inside and only a little of the outside. It was a four bedroom, three bathroom home that had a pad on the roof where Alexis had landed her shuttle. It looked to be the only way in and out, which was strange. Someone had to have built this place. "Do you come here often?" It was complete but it looked… unlived in. There seemed to be little that was personal about the place.

"Construction was completed about four years ago. I was here after it was done. I've never been back till today." Rick noticed that nothing had changed.

"There's a boat and a small submarine way down there that we can use. Behind us, through that door," he pointed, "is an underground shed built into the mountain. It houses a few hover bikes and carts. Past that through a biometric lock is an armory filled with weapons of all kinds."

"You're expecting trouble?" Kate didn't see the need for that many weapons.

"Dad bought land and built a house in a zone that's not under the control of the Alliance. It means except for the locals there's no law here." Alexis had joined them. "I need to set up the emitters for Alexis. The power core is already plugged in and operational."

"I probably need to feed the boys." Kate left Rick and Alexis and headed for their bedroom.

"Why here, Dad?" Alexis wasn't sure she approved.

"What do you see?" Rick waved his hand. "On a planet within the Alliance I could afford maybe the land this house is on, and it wouldn't be this house. Here I own the mountain the house is on all the way down to the sea. A few extra credits and I had a team build this house and burrow deep into the mountain."

That had Alexis looking at him in surprise and trying to think of why he'd done it. There was little reason to hollow out the mountain, unless… She gave him her two most likely options. "You've either built something or you found something."

"Both actually. They built me an automated mine. I've got tons of raw ore that still needs to be refined." He let her in on his little secret. "…Obtanium."

Alexis's eyes went wide. "My god, Dad! That stuff is a room-temperature superconductor for energy, which makes it very valuable; it's worth 40 million credits per kilogram (2.2 lbs) unrefined; 80 million per kilogram refined." She didn't believe it. "How much do you have?" Her dad could be worth an amount she couldn't comprehend.

"Well the robots started mining about four years ago. If I haven't lost any of them through the years they should be able to dig out 124 pounds of unrefined ore each year," Rick explained. "Provided that the vein hasn't played out."

Alexis did her best to do the math and in the end her mouth fell open. "Holy… That's… that's ten billion, nine hundred twelve thousand credits. Twice that if you can refine it. Can you? Refine it, that is?" Her dad nodded. She stopped figuring and concentrated on how to breathe.

"Half of that's yours, if you want it." He considered what he had to be family-owned and that included his older daughter.

Alexis couldn't help but laugh a little. "What about Lily and the boys? And you and Kate?"

"If the vein's as big as I think it might be, or even bigger, Lily, James, and Levi will be set for years. They and their children." Rick was hoping his family was set for life, or lives.

"Show me. You _are_ keeping records of how much you've mined? Holy…" Alexis shook her head. She couldn't believe it.

"Right after we set up the emitters for Alexis," he promised.

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Kate had put the boys down after feeding them. Then she started unpacking. Her clothes went into a closet while other things went into drawers. She placed her books on the dresser and sent her Crystal Owl outside of the house to keep an eye on it.

She placed the Crystal Parrot in a location so it would watch the boys. Yes, they had an Earth baby monitor, but this way she would know if anyone or anything entered the bedroom. She chose to keep her dagger on her. It was the most powerful item she owned.

"I forgot all about you." She picked up the blue-white gem encased in glass with a wood base. She sat down on the bed, placed it in her lap, and traced a finger all over the edge. She was amused that a stream of energy that she couldn't feel followed her finger.

Then she placed all five fingers on the globe. She watched the flickering energy arc out from the gem and follow her fingers. It still didn't tell her what this thing did. Unless it was just a toy. Something to keep someone amused, much like she was.

Kate decided to place both hands on the globe and watched the flickering tendrils reach out to each finger. Only this time she felt them tickle her fingertips.

"What the…" She spun in place. Everything was changed. The bedroom was gone as were her sons. "What… Where?"

There were buildings, but only a few of them. They were all made of wood which was gray and weathered looking. The buildings all had glass windows, but not very many of them.

Right in front of her was a horse tied to a rail. Then she saw a man riding a horse go past her between the wood building she was in front of and the one across the street. If you could call a patch of dirt a street.

None of this made sense. None of it. She stepped out into the street past the horse and looked up and down the street. There were other horses tied in place just like this one. "What the…?"

Kate spun to face the building she was in front of. The sign said General Store. "What?" It had a wooden door with glass in it so she strode right to it. Maybe there was someone inside that had answers. She reached out for the door knob and stopped when she saw her hand. It was smaller than she remembered. She looked at her left hand. "My ring!" It was gone. She turned in place and looked at the ground. She hadn't gone far; it had to be here somewhere.

She was down on the ground scrabbling through the dirt in an effort to find it. Rick had given her that ring. She was married for god's sake.

"You lose something, Missy?" a man's voice inquired. Kate looked up at him. His clothes were simple and he was an older man. Late 50s or maybe early 60s; she didn't recognize him.

Wait, he'd called her Missy, not Miss. "I… I, ah, no. I thought I'd dropped something is all," she lied.

"I'll let you finish your shopping." He smiled at her and walked away.

Kate stood up and turned to face the door. She reached for the handle again. Except she saw something in the glass – a reflection. It was a bad one and she almost planted her face against the glass to get a better look. "Who are you?" She saw the lips move and heard her voice, except it wasn't her voice. She ran her hand over her face to feel it while seeing the reflection do the same. Nothing made sense. None of it. Steeling her spine, she opened the door and went inside.

"Hello Missy, what do you need today? We just got in a few new things." A man she had never seen before greeted her as he dropped a bag on top of others just like it.

"Mirror, I need a mirror." Kate wanted a better look at her face.

"Sure, I think I've got one around her somewhere." He went off looking for it.

It gave Kate time to look around though she didn't take a step. There were strange things hanging everywhere. Bags, boxes, clothes, tools….

"Here you go." He handed her a small hand mirror. Her hand shaking, she raised it front of her eyes. The face looking back at her wasn't hers. Her first thought was that she had screwed up her illusion somehow so she willed herself to look like Kate. Look normal. Except… nothing changed.

"Is something wrong, Missy? You look lost somehow," he said and dropped yet another bag on top of the other one.

"Yes… no… I don't know. Maybe." Actually everything was wrong. Where the hell was she and why did she look like someone else?

"Well, the sheriff might could help you. Should be just outside walkin' around this time of day."

"Thanks, I'll go look for him." Kate put the mirror down.

"You mean her. Our sheriff's a woman. Grant you I've never heard of a sheriff being a lady before coming here. But she's good, really good." He was impressed. It didn't hurt that she was the best-lookin' woman in town. He'd also learned the hard way that she was married and her husband was equally good-lookin'. Actually those two amazed him.

"A woman?" Okay, she supposed a sheriff could be a woman. After all she was a homicide detective, so it was possible.

"Yes, you know…Kate." He went to pick up another bag to move.

"KATE!" She was the sheriff? Except he had called her Missy, like the man outside.

Kate wandered out the door and left it open. She was just standing there and was startled when the door behind her was closed. She was lost and had no idea what to do next. She saw a man wearing a gun walking down the street. "YOU, where's the sheriff?"

"Last I saw her she was walking to the restaurant." She turned to look the way he was going. "That way." He pointed behind him, a little perplexed that she didn't know that. After all it was the only restaurant in town and he had seen Missy in town before. If he remembered right she was the school teacher for the kids.

Kate ran down the street. It was only now that she noticed what she was wearing. Where had she gotten these clothes and why was she wearing so much? She started running again only this time it was more like hurrying; she took smaller steps. Then she saw someone dressed in black walking down the street. Based on their shape it had to be a woman.

Her long brown hair billowed out from under a black Stetson. She was wearing a black long sleeve shirt and had on black gloves. She was wearing tight black pants and had black boots. However, it was the black corset and the gun belt hanging on her right side that was strapped to her leg that she noticed most.

Then she spotted the gold badge that was pinned just above her left breast. Kate increased her speed and stopped right in front of her, a little winded. "You alright Missy? Is something wrong? Isn't there school in an hour?" the lady in black asked.

Kate sucked in a breath. It wasn't possible. This lady looked exactly like her. "Kate?" she inquired softly.

"What's wrong, Missy." The lady in black was now on alert. She was looking around for trouble and had her hand on her weapon.

"My name's not Missy." Kate took a breath and did her best to convince her. "It's Kate…. Actually, it's Katherine Houghton Beckett."

"Very funny, Missy. Now if there isn't a problem I'm going to go have breakfast." The lady in black dismissed her.

Kate reached out and grabbed her arm. "My name is Kate Beckett. My father is Jim Beckett, my deceased mother was Johanna Beckett. I'm a homicide detective for the 12th precinct of New York City. You need to believe me." She was doing her best to reach her.

And based on the look of shock the lady was looking at her with, she had. BIG TIME.

"How do you…? You better come with me." The sheriff took hold of the arm that had hold of her arm and escorted her into the building.

There were a few people out front eating and Kate could smell cooking; her stomach began to growl. "This way." The lady took her through a back door into the kitchen.

It was here that Kate saw a man cooking, and not just any man. _"Rick!"_ She was now beyond surprised. Even the lady in black had an equally shocked look on her face.

"Are we having a guest for breakfast?" Rick asked as he watched them both enter.

"Stay here," the lady in black ordered then walked over to Rick. "I don't know what's going on, but she says her name is Katherine Houghton Beckett."

"Really, since when?" He knew her name was Missy and she was the school teacher.

"Castle, she knows the names of my dad and mother. She knows about the 12th precinct." She saw the look of shock on his face.

Both of them turned to look at Kate who gave a little wave and very tentative smile.

"Kate, we're in the Wild West. We don't have electricity yet, save for the little bit we have upstairs. We don't even have running water, save for what we have upstairs," Rick said.

"I know all that, Rick. So how does she know so much? New York City is hundreds and hundreds of miles from here. It would take us weeks on horseback to get there, and it's not the New York City we both know," she pointed out.

He was dumbfounded and didn't know what to do. "Go lock the front door; the restaurant is closed this morning. At least until we have answers. ... Castle," Kate hissed since he hadn't moved.

"Lock the front door… right." Rick left Kate and walked past Missy. He hustled the few customers they did have out the front door since it looked like they were done. He locked the front door and turned the sign to CLOSED.

Rick found Kate standing close to Missy who was sipping coffee. "No vanilla?" Kate asked Kate.

Kate chuckled. She would kill for some vanilla in her coffee. "No, sorry."

Rick stood next to Kate. "I don't know how to explain it, but I'm Kate Beckett. You're Richard Castle and you write novels. Derrick Storm and then Nikki Heat which you based on me," Kate told them.

They looked at her in shock. "We don't even have much in the way of books. Most of what I write that gets published are short stories that are printed on pamphlets," Rick explained.

"Who do you work with at the 12th?" Kate was obviously testing her.

"Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan with Lanie Parish as the head medical examiner and Roy Montgomery as our precinct captain." Kate was amused at the look on their faces.

"It's the year 2011, your mother Johanna was born February 4, 1951, and died in January 9, 1999." She still saw the shocked look on their faces.

"As best we can tell it's 1876. June, we think. General Custer should be killed at the Little Big Horn soon," Rick said.

"Do you remember dying?" Kate inquired.

"We were both picked up and questioned about someone that we knew nothing about. There was someone but it's all kinda hazy. I think I was dropped in the same alley where my mother was killed," Kate replied.

"Same for me, except they broke all of my fingers and dropped me near the 12th to be found dead," Rick explained. "There was someone, I can't really picture him, he asked questions. It's all very confusing."

"I found you in a pool of blood. My real name is Snohbal," Kate related as she heard Kate say Snowball at the same time. "I'm a demon, a succubus to be precise. I escaped from my plane of existence and encountered you just outside of the door I selected from the staircase."

"A demon, like a mythical demon?" Rick asked excitedly. She nodded. "That is so cool! Are there other types of demons? Ones with big horns, sharp nasty teeth? Do you have wings?" He was on a roll and totally intrigued.

"Castle! …Focus!" Kate chided and Kate watched Rick let Kate take control.

"The answer is yes." Kate was amused by Rick and how Kate controlled him.

Suddenly a high pitched wail got their attention. Rick walked a little ways off and lifted a baby out of a simple crib. "She just needs her diaper changed." He got to work.

"Her name is Lily and she's about 9 months old," Kate told Kate, her love for her daughter very evident on her face.

"Really?" Now it was Kate who was shocked. "My little girl is named Lily and she's two. My twin boys were born just a few weeks ago."

Both of them look shocked. "Who… who's the father?" Kate queried a bit hesitantly.

"Rick." Kate grinned at the implications of what that meant.

Kate turned and glared at Castle. He immediately defended himself. "It wasn't me, I swear, I've been right here all the time. Besides how could I get her pregnant in 2011 when it's 1876?"

"My Rick, I mean you, Rick. This is really complex." Kate wasn't sure how to explain this. "Okay, I found you, Kate, and a Richard Rodgers found you, Rick. I took over your life and made myself look like you. Rick, for reasons we don't understand, looks just like your Rick. I connected my mind to yours and gained most of your memories and Rick used a device to download your memories. I'm you and Rick is Rick. Does that make sense?" Kate asked them. "Oh, and my Rick has a daughter named Alexis." Just to make things even more complex.

"ALEXIS!" Rick was all over that name. He came up next to Kate carrying Lily who was being quiet.

Kate scrunched up her face not sure how to tell him. She decided it was best to be blunt. "She's dead, killed by the same person that had you both killed and your mother killed, Kate."

Kate was fast and snatched Lily from his arms just before Rick collapsed to the floor. "Dead… Like in dead, dead?" He looked up at her as tears started. Kate nodded and saw him begin to break down.

Kate had news that they didn't know. "She's not completely dead."

" _DEAD IS DEAD_ _!_ WHAT OTHER KIND OF DEAD IS THERE?" Rick screamed; he started to sob. It wasn't possible, just wasn't possible. His little girl was dead.

"Castle." Kate wasn't sure what she could do for him. She knew how much Alexis meant to him. It had taken him months to get over never being able to see her again. He'd even worked out just how old he had to be when she was born.

Then he had launched into how him being an old man would encounter himself as a younger man as Meredith gave birth to his little girl. He could tell himself all kinds of things. Like how to get rid of Meredith and not let her into his life again. How to meet and fall in love with Kate Beckett and this time to actually talk to her. Tell her how much he loved her. To avoid all the mistakes they had made.

Kate tried to explain. "She's not really dead, sort of. Like you two, we downloaded all of her memories. Alexis is a 3 dimensional image projected by emitters. It _is_ Alexis. She has all her memories. Granted her finding out that she was dead and just a program now didn't go over well at first. But she's alive Rick. It _is_ Alexis."

Rick swiped at his eyes and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "A 3D image. Like Vader in _Star Wars?"_ He latched onto what little hope he had been offered.

Kate had to think about that. "More like the Jedi council in _Return of the Jedi,_ but yes. It's Alexis, she just can't go anywhere without an emitter." Alexis had limitations.

Kate knelt down to his level. The fact that Alexis had been killed affected her, too. She had learned to like Alexis. True, she wasn't in love with Alexis, she hadn't had that much time with her. "I'm sorry, Castle, I know what Alexis means to you." The fact that he was hurting caused her own heart to hurt. Then something occurred to her and she turned to look up at Missy.

"You said the person who killed her and killed my mom." Had she heard correctly?

"Rick and I worked out who'd had her killed. Both your mother and Alexis most likely, though we were never able to prove it was him for either." Kate was betting there were others, she just didn't know who.

Kate stopped breathing. They'd found out who had killed her mother. The one case that meant the world to her. "Who? Dammit, who?" She had to know.

"He was an assistant district attorney at the time your… my mother was killed." To her Johanna was her mother. "His name was Senator William H. Bracken," Kate said and listened to Kate speak the name softly.

"He was arrested and convicted of processing and distributing illegal drugs with intent to sell along with tax evasion. Rick and I, along with information Roy had, helped to get him convicted," Kate tried to explain.

"Roy? Roy Montgomery? Captain of the 12th?" Kate didn't understand; how could he be involved in this?

"According to Roy, when he was a rookie, he and two other officers – detectives actually, from Homicide – had been kidnapping members of the Five Families and then ransoming them back for money. Bracken found out and took the money and blackmailed the three of them.

Roy collected all the information he could and used to to try and protect his family and you from Bracken. He didn't really have enough to convict him, but he did have enough to get all the news organizations involved. Along with lots of paparazzi. Toward the end even the FBI got involved," Kate revealed.

"How does that get Alexis killed?" Rick didn't understand. He didn't see the connection.

Kate kissed Lily's head who was being a good girl. "Retaliation from prison," she reasoned.

"We think so, yes. Then Alexis killed him so that he couldn't kill anyone again." Kate responded; both of them looked at her with confusion.

"Not your Alexis." Kate tried to think this through before trying to explain. "You, Rick, have a daughter named Alexis. My Rick also has a daughter named Alexis. She's about two years older than yours. My Rick is an interstellar hunter as is his Alexis. A bounty hunter if you will." Kate had found something similar on her world. Well, Kate's world.

"Interstellar bounty hunter?" Rick tried to wrap his mind around it and Missy nodded.

Kate had her own questions. "How did you two meet? I dropped your body into the Astral Mist to get rid of it. If I was going to be you I couldn't have someone finding your body."

"We… I found myself in this town right after its sheriff had been killed. I picked up a weapon and attempted to arrest the killers. I ended up killing both of them instead. They didn't give me a choice. I was grazed by a shot and was shocked when I found Rick tending to my wound. Both of us just kind of showed up here.

Since I killed the two killers, the town asked me to be sheriff, at the urging of Rick. At first I resisted but Rick, he wouldn't let go of the idea of me being sheriff. We used my first year's salary to buy this building and opened a restaurant. Our home's on the floor above us," Kate explained.

"I'm the cook. It makes us decent money," Rick shrugged. "Between Kate's salary, the restaurant, and my little books we do pretty well. Better than some."

"How did you get here and what are you doing in Missy's body? She's our school teacher, just so you know," Rick inquired.

"I escaped from my world since I didn't like it. I knew that I wasn't evil like all the other demons that inhabited it. I had found a way out but wanted to steal an item from the prince that ruled my world. I spent months watching and planning.

I stole a magical dagger, four books, and this globe that had a blue object inside it. The dagger houses a massive red dragon…" Kate was interrupted by Rick.

"A real dragon? A red dragon like in the movies?" Rick couldn't resist and Kate simply rolled her eyes and let her husband have his fun.

"Pretty much, yeah. I was examining the globe and found myself here. I don't know why I look like Missy. Actually it was a shock to find myself looking like her. Are we even on the same world?" Kate wasn't even sure about that.

"Castle has a number of theories about that. Most of them thankfully don't involve aliens or the CIA," Kate teased. In truth she loved some of his wild theories.

"It's still possible, you know." Rick defended his theories and tried to glare at her knowing she was immune to his looks.

Kate simply ignored him. "So how do you get back and we get Missy here?"

Kate wasn't even sure how she got there let alone how to get back home. "Wait, maybe? Most magic has a time limit," she suggested. "If this works I can come back monthly. It doesn't look like I can bring anything with me except knowledge. You can ask me for something and I'll try to memorize how to make it or what happens in this time," Kate offered.

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Kate had what she would call a muscle spasm then found herself in their bedroom with the twins and a blue globe in her hand. She singsonged excitedly, "I found them and they're alive!" She began wiping at the tears that had started. She laughed, hugged herself, and spun around. Then she was up and running.

"Alexis!" Kate found the hologram Alexis first. "I need to memorize what it takes to make penicillin and how to make a pill that will purify water." Those were the two things Kate and Rick had asked about.

"And Alexis, I have something I need to tell you. It's about your father," Kate beamed.

She thought Kate was happy with what she was doing with her life as was Rick. Now she could do something for Alexis and that made her heart soar. They could use the globe monthly to talk to each other. Find a way to give things to Kate and Rick and let them talk to people here through her or Rick or even Alexis.

Kate was so very happy.


End file.
